Miraculous Ladybug: Criss-Crossed Love
by Elios Evershine
Summary: Having two identities is already hard enough. Add your partner and some regular nightly visits, and things very quickly spiral away into reveal territory. Can Marinette, also known as the Miraculous Ladybug, and Chat Noir, the famous teenage model Adrien Agreste, find a way to get their criss-crossed love untangled, or will they let everything go from 0-100, and end in disaster?
1. An Expected Visit

**Hallo!**  
 **This is just a furrendly message to anyone about to read this story.**

 **One: This story DOES CONTAIN MINOR SEASON 2 SPOILERS. IF YOU ARE SENSITIVE TO THIS, PLEASE WAIT UNTIL YOU HAVE SEEN SEASON 2. I HONHISSTLY RECCOMEND YOU DO FURRST, IT'S CLAWESOME!**  
 **Two: Since it is a conversation my friend and I made, there is no real end to this story yet, everything is sporadic and of the moment. So we cannot pawromise to mew that this will in fact have an ending.**  
 **Three: There are suggestive scenes in this, so if you are blind to the millions of Marichat sin, or other kinds of ship shenanigans, then...I am sorry for your IQ. You must be as smart as Chat Noir is. Regardless, I assure you this is not full blown Mature content. But there is swearing and sorta sexual themes.**  
 **Furr: HAVE FUN AND STAY MIRACULOUS! :D**

 **P.S. All characters have been aged up. Therefore Adrien and Marinette are not their canon 13-14 year olds, they are 17-18 years old.**  
 **ENJOY!**

* * *

After waiting for her regular visitor that never came, Marinette thought that she could finally catch up on her sleep. However, her plans had once again been cancelled by the excited, rapping noise on her windowsill.

The familiar black clad hero, with his messy blonde locks stood out amongst the dark sky, his electrifying green eyes curiously peering into the warmth of her room. With a Cheshire grin, he greeted her, 'Does a Purrincess have time for a stray?' He shivered as a sudden cold brush of wind rushed past, his breath fogging the window ever so slightly.

'Tikki hide!' the bluenette whispered in panic to her kwami, the tiny companion quickly whisking away into the shadows. 'Hello?... Oh Chat, it's you. What are you doing out here?' she asked as she automatically started walking across her room.

'I just needed the fresh air. Besides,' he shrugged, 'a little late night patrol around Paris is quite the sight.'

Marinette climbed her stairs to open her balcony trapdoor. It creaked open as she lifted it above her head, the wind blasting her in the face the wider it opened. The girl gasped at the sudden drop in temperature, 'It's so cold out, Chat!' her teeth chattered. Marinette stood aside to welcome her friend in. 'Come inside, I can't have Paris' hero freeze to death!'

The boy bowed his head in thanks. 'Your kindness warms my heart'.

The bluenette laughed, playfully nudging his shoulder as he passed by her. 'Ha. Be careful there, Chat, don't want to betray "Your Lady" now,' she told him sarcastically, her back turned on him as she banished the cold air from entering into her room. She turned back to face him. 'Do you want some cookies? I have some leftover from this afternoon's baking.'

Chat placed a hand over his heart with a mocking gasp. 'Betraying My Lady will never happen in any of my 9 lives Purrincess.' his tail swished at the mention of his love. 'I do love cookies, but don't go through any unnecessary trouble for me. I was just heading home anyway when I passed your bakery and saw your light on... what has kept you up so late?'

Marinette sighed, her mind in another place. _'I wish Adrien would be the one calling me Princess, instead I just get this mangy alley cat instead. He is pretty sweet though, regardless of his flirtations.'_ she thought to herself, completely unaware that Chat was looking at her expectantly. 'I...um...heheh' she babbled, unprepared with an answe _r. 'Crap he can't know I was on patrol with him just before!'_

'Uh...DESIGNS!' she blurted loudly, her voice travelling around the entire room. Embarrassed, she lowered her voice. 'Yeah! I was...designing a new...line for the summer! Mhmm, it usually keeps me up way into the darker hours of the night.'

Chats ears perked up at this. 'Designs huh? May I take a look?' He always adored seeing his classmate's newest creations, they were all so unique and well thought out. Sometime in the future, he hoped that she could earn a scholarship from his dad, to help her dream become a success. She deserved it. 'I would love to see your latest masterpieces,' he admitted, not even bothering to hide the excited grin he knew he was already wearing. 'Not to brag, but I do have some knowledge in the area myself.' Chat flaunted his other hand in a pose, shrugging as he did so.

Marinette stared at him, surprise written all over her face. He appeared to be so eager at looking at a few mere scribblings on paper. 'Mmmm...sure?' she paused, remembering something important. _'Please don't let him see the hoodies, please don't let him see the hoodies.'_ She prayed to any god listening. Chat would not let this down and it'll ruin the surprise if he found them. Maybe she could quickly hide them before he saw. 'Uhm, lemme just, go get them!'

As Marinette began to walk to retrieve her portfolio she spotted her collage wall of her angel. _'HOLY MOTHER OF CHEESE SHIIIIIIIIIT ARGH HE CANNOT FIND THESE! HIDE HIDE HIDE THEM NOW MARINETTE AHHHHHHH. Why do I always manage to forget I have these up here when I know Chat's coming around?!'_ Marinette panicked, violently ripping every last photo of Adrien off her wall. She turned to look at Chat who seemed to be studying the other side of her room and quickly grabs all the posters, shoving them into the nearest draw and locking it with haste.

Marinette sighed, a drop of sweat falling down her temple. 'H-Here you go, Chat! Some of the winter stuff is in there, but most of the things I want to make for Summer should be in here too.' She explains, slightly red faced as she almost shoves the book into his chest, both of her arms stretched out and cradling the portfolio in her hands. In her mind she still pleaded, begging to all the heavens. _'Ehhh, don't find the hoodies I want to make for us for patrol...please don't see them!_ ' She crossed her fingers while Chat took the portfolio and began to flick through, at a slower pace then she would have liked, his eyes sweeping over each design with equal and detailed attention.

'Wow Marinette,' Chat praised, his eyes sparkling with awe. 'These... are amazing. You're really talente-'

He cut off as he flipped a page. Marinette knew it before she saw it. 'Chat! NO DON'T LOOK AT I-'. Her shoulders dropped with her sigh. She was too late.

Chat was amazed. _'Oh...my...god... these are so cute and amazing.'_ he mentally squealed.

Chat Noir was now brimming with questions. 'Princess are these... Chat Noir hoodies?' The boy couldn't even wait for an answer as his eyes were too hungry for the sight of her talented designs. 'Wow...they're amazing... and Ladybug merch as well!' He exclaimed as he flipped the page. He returned his gaze back to her shy one.

'You're really creative. I am loving the ladybug sweater.' he winked, before he brought the page closer to his nose and continued to look on in awe.

Marinette stood frozen, she could feel her face heat up _. 'I want to die in a pit stuck with Chloe. What do I say? What do I say?!'_

'I was planning to make these for you and Ladybug as a surprise. It looks so cold out there at night, particularly in the winter...so I thought, y'know, as a gift, for all the saving you do for Paris, you deserve it.' she paused, rubbing her hand against her other sleeve. 'A-and the other stuff is just because I was bored. I don't know if I actually will make those. I only plan to make the Chat Noir and Ladybug hoodies.'

Chat Noir's eyes lingered on the girl in front of him, his features soft. He was filled with pride that this was the sort of person he was friends with. 'Wow Marinette, you really didn't have to do something like that...' She truly was a very good friend of his. But... _'hang on...'_ he thought, replaying her words back in his mind, and failing to see the solution. Chat turned to her again, raising a quizzical finger. 'Um, but, one question...how were you planning on delivering these to M'lady and I?'

Marinette thought about it in a split second. 'I would have given them to you to pass it on for me, silly!'

'Are you saying you would have waited up all night to catch us on patrol?' Chat teased but his forehead knitted together in slight concern.

 _'Actually, if it weren't for you being a sticky nosed cat, **Ladybug** would have just given it to you, but nooooooo,'_ Marinette quipped in her head. In reality she shrugged. 'Um...well yeah? Maybe? I'm always up doing homework or designs.'

Chat picked her up and spun her around without warning. 'You're such a bundle of generosity,' he laughed, placing her back down gently again. 'But...I am pawsitive that a purrincess such as yourself is in need of beauty sleep every meow and then.'

Marinette rolled her eyes at the length of puns. 'Hehe, thanks Chat Noir. It's the least I could do for our heroes. And about the sleep, I really do not mind at all.' she admitted bashfully. Nobody outside her friends really saw her designs, so getting approval from none other than a superhero was more than just a milestone. Marinette wanted to seal this feat forever, she felt the need to celebrate with food. 'So uh...I'm gonna go downstairs to get some cookies.' She informed him. Noticing he was simply standing there with nothing to do, she added, 'Feel free to browse...but **don't** snoop! I don't need anymore surprises revealed on your account.' She pointed her finger at him. Mentally adding at the end: _'Or you finding out about Tikki.'_

'Oh uh...sure,' Chat gives the ravenette a grin as he watched her exit downstairs. As the top of her head disappears Chat sits down cross legged on the floor and began to angle his head around, getting a good view of the room, until his eyes caught on something. Perking his cat ears in curiosity, he hovered over to Marinette's desk, where a rather interesting photo lay.

 _'Is that...?'_ he confirmed his suspicions from picking up the clear picture of his own civilian face, flashing his dazzling fake smile back up at him.

His newest discovery left Chat conflicted with all kinds of emotions. _'She's just a friend, Adrien. She knows you personally, that's why she has a photo of you."_ He continued his search around the room, the more knowledge he absorbed from the surroundings, the deeper he sunk into confusion. _'But then why are there no pictures of anyone else?'_

'Hmmmm...' He dragged his claws along the desk, casually strolling beside it until his fingers hit something, a clicking noise alerting him of what he'd touched. Chat looked down, noticing the space bar key on the keyboard sunk lower than the rest, and that his finger was precisely on top of said key. The computer buzzed alive, whirring a soft hum as the screen lit up instantly in brilliant hues of pink and **Adrien**. Adrien Agreste everywhere. His eyes widened and he could already feel his face burn red with embarrassment and shock.

He was so preoccupied he didn't notice the return of the owner of the computer. Marinette walked up the stairs after retrieving the cookies she had promised from the kitchen, setting the food out on a platter for them both to share. She was so happy that Chat had liked her designs, she now had full confidence to make the hoodies for them. Grinning, Marinette stepped onto her bedroom floorboards, immediately noticing the black leather back standing still in one place.

 _'He stayed still...wait, what is he looking at?'_ Marinette leaned her head sideways to get a better view. _'Why is my computer on?! Oh **mon dieu** no!'_ She blushed profusely, Chat had surely seen the mass collection of photos of Adrien, and must now be questioning what sort of person she was. Quietly, she mumbled. 'C-Chat...um...I brought cookies!' She mentally slapped herself. _'Yeah, Marinette, act as if he's not totally, definitely staring at all your obsessive pictures of Adrien Agreste. Maybe he didn't notice?'_

Chat spun around, his focus snapping to Marinette, a mischievous smirk creeping onto his face. 'Why thank you purrincess.' he picked up a cookie, voice coated in sugar. 'May I add that I love the way you decorate your room but I couldn't help but notice a certain **someone** popping up a lot more than usual.' He moved his body sideways ever so slightly to reveal the screensaver behind him that was lit up. 'Have a little crush now do we?' he nearly sing-songed. ' _Why am I doing this?'_ despite his cheeky attitude Chat began cursing himself _'and why do I feel sad? Why am I jealous of myself? NO YOU LOVE LB. Ugh!'_ a million questions began to race through his head and he scolded himself for every single one.

Marinette on the other hand, was conflicted for an answer that wouldn't out herself as a creepy fangirl. _"Shit. That's it. Nope. Hawkmoth can have the earrings. I'm done.'_ She groaned, hitting her forehead as punishment for her carelessness. 'N-no! Jeez, Chat! You're such a Peeping Tom! I have so many photos because...' Inwardly, she spoke of the truth. _'I am completely in love with the most gorgeous boy in existence, with his kindness, acceptance, friendliness, generosity and humour...WAIT NO STOP IT!'_ She gulped. 'B-because of his father! Yeah, I l-like his father's designs and I always have ever since I was a child. Gabriel Agreste is my inspiration, and these here are my favourite designs that Gabriel has ever created. ' _Mainly because Adrien wears them, but...he doesn't need to know that.'_

'Uh huh...' Chat slowly nodded his tapped his chin with two fingers while one eyebrow rose questioningly. 'And that explains all the hearts surrounding the collage of photos?'

'W-well, I like hearts, okay?! Shoot me for it! I write a heart on my I's when I spell my name. Besides,' She leans in close to Chat's face, with a devilish smirk. 'I bet **you** have an even larger collage of a certain bug, hm? Or are you just a big flirt, trying to get some from pretty ladies?'

Marinette folded her arms triumphantly, stepping back a little to give some space before walking over to her chaise lounge and taking a seat with her legs crossed. She placed the tray down beside her and took one of the cookies, smirking still as she bit into it.

Chat Noir jumped back with a hand on his chest in mock concern. 'I am shocked and wounded at your accusation. **Of course** I have a larger collage of M'lady...' A devilish grin pulls at his face _'Two can purrlay at hiss game,'_ he thought cheekily, 'which is why I believe you owe your devotion to a certain picture perfect lover boy,' he pointedly waves his hand halfheartedly at the screen.

 _'Tch, Of course that mangy alley cat has shrines of me. Mon dieu that's really creepy...but then I'm kinda the same? BUT AT LEAST I **KNOW** ADRIEN!'_ Marinette battled to keep her face neutral at the comment. She finished the rest of her cookie and put her hands on her hips.

'Excuse me?! Adrien isn't just a picture perfect boy. Adrien is more than that. He's a kind, humble and supportive person, even though he is rich. He has never acted like Chloe, despite having known her before having ever attended public school, and has not become the kind of person that she is. He easily could have become that sort of person like Chloe, but he never has. He never uses his position, wealth or family to get his own way, nor does he try to intimidate other people because of it. He intentionally tries to place himself lower, onto our level, and tries to get to know us that way. He's kind, selfless, caring, and supportive. He'd go out of his way to help someone, with little to no real benefit to himself. He's smart, talented and...' she realised she had began to ramble _'too much, Mari, too much,"_ she thought. Marinette huffed, 'he's just more than a picture perfect person. He's wonderful. So yeah, I **do** know Adrien properly, he's friends with me... _'hopefully more...'_

Chats ego seemed to deflate, he was taken aback. _'She really thinks all that about me?' He smiled slightly. 'Wow he really seems like a cat above the rest.'_

'I...uh...well. He has a special place in my heart.' Marinette noticed her friend's cat ears droop, a frown appearing on his face. She covered her laugh with her hand. 'Don't worry, Chat Noir, you also have a place there too,' she giggled, taking another cookie _. 'I wish Adrien were here. He could eat cookies with me and it would be SO CUTE!'_ the thought entered her head before she knew it.

The two both sat in silence, Marinette's chewing the only sound in the room. 'So... What about Ladybug? How do you know she's purrfect for you?' the girl asked, preferring a conversation rather than awkward silence.

'Well Ladybug is Ladybug with or without the mask. I have loved her from the first day we fought together. I saw a girl who was terrified and doubtful turn into the bravest person I've ever met. She is not afraid to put herself in harm's way. She is smart, witty and overall amazing. She is determined, insightful and always looks out for others before herself,' Chat began to lose himself in thought of his lady. 'And I honestly don't care if she doesn't see me the same way I see her because I will always have her back. Everyone, no matter how big, brave and confident they appear to be, needs someone to fall back on. That's why every time we fight, every time I get to see her again, she makes me want to be better than I was the day before.

Marinette slackened at his words _"So...so he wasn't just being a big flirt? He's really in love with me?!'_ Guilt washed over her. _'Oh no, I'm leading this poor kitty on. Too bad I cannot tell him that his love will never be accepted, because it already belongs to my sweet Adrien.'_ She sighed, feeling sorry for Chat and his affection to someone who wasn't who he thought she was. 'But how do you know she's normally Ladybug? You don't personally know her. What if she was as bad as me, "Clumsinette Dupain-AgrCHENG!" Dupain Cheng?' Marinette mentally high-fived herself. _'Phew, that was close. Nearly confirmed to him his suspicions out of habit.'_

'Everything new that I find out about her only makes me feel more fur her and if she was anything like you under the mask that would only secure it,' Chat snapped out of his daze as he realised what he had just said, his eyes widening.

Marinette froze. ' _Mon dieu. He's in too deep! HE'S IN TOO DEEP!'_

Chat cleared his throat and tried to recover. 'By that I mean that no matter who she is under the mask it would be a blessing to know,' he rubbed the back of his head and gave a little nervous laugh. A blush spread along his cheeks.

Marinette also blushed, failing for words. 'Oh. Eheheheh yeah. 'Cause, um...heh, yeah...cookie?'

'Thank you' was all he could muster as he picked up the offered cookie and sat back down on the floor in his cross legged position. He takes a nibble out of the cookie, being careful not to let crumbs land anywhere.

 _'This is weird.'_ Marinette thought _. 'I have to tell him before he gets hurt. Chat's a sweet guy, he doesn't deserve that kind of bad luck. It's my fault. But I can't tell him who I am either! Hawkmoth could exploit the knowledge and our friends and family could get hurt. Adrien could get hurt. The kitty will have to suffer, if it means Adrien won't.'_

She looked at the cat near her legs and laughed "Wow, Chat, you eat really quickly. Elegantly, but quickly. Do your parents even let you have sweets? It looks as if you've never eaten a cookie before! It's a snack, not a 5 star meal being judged. You can eat it as messily as you want!'

Chat looked at the ground. 'Oh sorry, guess its just habit is all.' He lifted his head and grinned up at her 'I'm also kinda hungry after the patrol.'

'Yeah well, understandable, I guess. You do a lot of travelling rooftops, guess that's pretty tiring on your iddy biddy body. In the house of Marinette you don't need to eat as if you've been raised like a model. Enjoy!' She smiled sweetly.

Chat fake gasped. 'Excuuuuse meee purrrrinnceesss. "Iddy biddy"? I'll have you know that my body is ripped.' He grunted, flexing his muscles in funny poses playfully.

Marinette giggled to herself. _'Psssh, "ripped". Yeah right. He's probably only half as ripped as Adrien is.'_ But she decided to play along with his antics; putting on a fake high pitch, airy voice 'Oh, **wow!** Chat Noir! You're **soooo** ripped.' she giggled 'I bet your lady **fawns** over you, riiight? Hmmmm?'

Chat stood up and perched himself on the chaise next to her in what seemed to be less than a second. He was leaning in, his face inches away from hers, suddenly serious.

Marinette was paralysed. ' _Eh?! What!? What is he doing?'_

He looked her straight in her blue-bell eyes, slight pain concealed in his own 'Why do we do this?' he asked her in a low voice.

'D-do what?' she nearly whispered back. Meanwhile, Marinette was having a small heart attack with the sudden drastic change of atmosphere and Chat's behaviour. Also, _'Ehhhh he smells like Adrien. WHY DOES HE SMELL LIKE ADRIEN? Yeah that's exactly what you should be focusing on now, Marinette.'_

'Why do we pine after people who don't ever see us?' His voice was small, intimate. 'Why do we put ourselves through this?' Chats eyes locked with Marinette's, unconsciously leaning closer, closer towards her sweet scent. His hand bracing himself on the couch.

Marinette remained still, leaning back as he leaned forward. She looked at Chat, seeing his pained expression on his face. _"Does he...know who I am?! Uh...uh...I CANT THINK WITH HIM SMELLING LIKE ADRIEN! Uhh...'_ Marinette looked away from Chat's curious eyes. His eyes were just too much to handle. 'Chat...' Marinette whispered.

'Someone as sweet as you doesn't deserve their heart to be broken by someone like him,' He takes Marinette's hand, and leans in so their noses are nearly touching. Their breaths mingle together. 'You deserve so much better than someone like him,' His lips were parted ever so slightly but he pulled away. Chat let her hand go and tilted his head away ashamed 'Someone like me...'

Marinette immediately picked up his undertones of shame. 'Chat, you're a wonderful person. Don't put yourself down like that.'

'I'm sorry.' He stands up to move away, 'I think it might be best that I go. Besides, you need sleep.' Chat sighed, ready to turn away from what might be another mistake of his. _'What was that? Did I just...? I am a bastard."_

'Chat, wait!' Marinette leaned forward before Chat could take a step and grabbed his leather hand. Chat turned to face her, a mixture of shame, curiosity and longing twisted onto his face. 'I-I'm sorry for calling you a flirt before. You really do care for Ladybug.' She looked at the ground sadly, the ground beneath her freezing her feet. But she didn't care. She needed to tell Chat what he needed to hear, even if it wasn't from the right person. 'I'm sure she just takes you for granted without realising. To her, you're probably the most trustworthy person she can confide in, the one that will listen to all of her fears and deepest secrets. If she were here, she would probably be thanking you for being quite possibly the best partner anyone could have had. You're important to her...and to me.' Marinette pulled the hero towards her and wrapped herself around his torso, squeezing him ever so slightly in comfort.

Hesitantly, he placed his hands on Marinette's back; accepting the hug as he took in shaky breaths. Marinette removed herself from the embrace. 'Thank you... Marinette,' he told her.

'Go home, Kitty. Get some rest. But first...' She dashed downstairs to grab a brown paper bag, shoving all the leftover cookies in the bag. Each one she touched still felt warm in the centre. She smiled, glad that they were still going to be fresh for Chat Noir.

Running back upstairs, slightly out of breath, she bounced on the balls of her feet and offered the bag to her feline friend. 'Can't let you leave without a parting gift, eh?'

'I... uh...' he tentatively takes the bag. " _Even now she still caring... anyone else would have slapped me from here to the moon._ ' Chat smiled, warmth rising up to his cheeks. 'Thank you.' The cat bowed his head, beginning to walk up the stairs to the balcony, before he paused half-way, reminded of his manners and the way he was raised. 'Sweet dreams, Marinette' He wished to her before he continued his walk of self loathing. He walked across her balcony and jumped up onto the railing, taking in the Parisian night.

Marinette hugged herself, the cold night making her skin flush pink. 'You too. Oh and Chat?'

The hero crouched down and looked behind him at the bluenette. 'Hmm?'

She walked over next to him before leaning up and kissing him on the cheek. 'Sweet dreams, Chaton,' she whispers, winking.

He looked at Marinette and smiled, watching her retreat back into her room to the warm escape of her bed. Shaking himself out of his daze he managed to leap of the building to his trek home, growing colder the closer he got. The recent thoughts of his actions returned to him, clouding all of his thoughts as he automatically retreated back to his house on instinct. _'I am a bastard. What is wrong with me?!'_

All the while, back in Marinette's room, the young girl was going through a similar whirlpool of emotions _"I am dead, soooo very dead. Why cant those two just be the same person?!"_


	2. Behind the Scenes of:An Expected Visit

**SO. This is the drafted form of our previous chapter. This is the raw, uncut stuff we did on Skype together-be prepared for many spelling mistakes and typos. We had some conversations in the middle of our "writing" (It was never writing, we just decided to talk in the form of some of our favourite fandom characters, so nothing in here is actually structured or planned ahead) and so this is the best parts of it. Have fun looking at our ridiculous selves! :D**

 **P.S. For those of you getting confused, Marinette is me: Elios Evershine, and Chat Noir (Yes I really did name ourselves this on Skype) is my friend.**

* * *

 **!MUCH SWEARING!**

* * *

 _18th November, 2017 at 8:30pm:_

Marinette: we can role play? :D

Chat Noir: as you wish purrincess  
Chat Noir: ;)

Marinette: YUSSSS  
Marinette: XD  
Marinette: Ill be Mari  
Marinette: since, ik u don't wanna

Chat Noir: nah hit  
Chat Noir: shit*  
Chat Noir: dude ill be whatever you want

Marinette: ?!  
Marinette: Be whoever

Chat Noir: ;)

Marinette: u can be both Chat and Adrien  
Marinette: if u want  
Marinette: like...u can change between em?  
Marinette: XD that would be funny  
Marinette: then i could also do LB

Chat Noir: dude if you wanna be chat I can be mari?

Marinette: NUUU  
Marinette: I LIKE BEING BLUSHING EMBARRASSED ASS MARI

Chat Noir: lol k  
Chat Noir: don't get flustered m'lady  
Chat Noir: (just so u know ima gonna wreck this by being shit at puns right?)  
Chat Noir: wait brb

Marinette: As if, alley cat  
Marinette: okay  
Marinette: (Btw, I'm gonna be both LB and Mari. so we can cover all 4 ships. also, if u wanna break character, brackets. duh. XD)  
Marinette: (Also, ok. so...civilian form=normal text, superhero form= italics text and u can bold puns for emphasis if u want)

Chat Noir: idk how to do italics

 ** _-Cue 2 mins of trying to explain and work out how to put italics in on Skype-_**

Chat Noir: (XD I HATE MYSELF)

Marinette: (lawl its ok. i don't hate u)

Chat Noir: (I had to screeshot that because omg that struggle)

* * *

 _ **-We begin, and as soon as my friend starts...-**_

Chat Noir: (i needed the fresh air. besides a little late night patrol around paris is quite the sight)

Marinette: (That shouldn't be in brackets ^^^)

Chat Noir: (SORRY)  
Chat Noir: (CHEESUS)

* * *

 _ **-We converse...and then a familiar enemy approaches...-**_

Marinette: (INTERNETTTT! XD)  
Marinette: (Also, I might "word" this like that for thoughts.)

* * *

 _ **-So we continue to write, and my friend decides to be smart around me. I had decided to get Marinette to lock her photos of Adrien away so that my friend wouldn't be able to let Chat Noir see them, yet, I...well you'll see...-**_

Chat Noir: sits cross legged on the floor looking around the room  
Chat Noir: spot the picture on marinettes desk  
Chat Noir: "is that...?"

Marinette: (XD that's hilarious OI WAIT NO! CRAP I FORGOT TO MENTION TO HIDE THAT AWAY. I JUST ASSUMED!)

Chat Noir: (WELL U ASSUMED WRONG BITCH I FOUND THE LOOP HOLE MUAHAHAHHAHAHA)

Marinette: (fuq u u genius! XD)

Chat Noir: (evil)

Marinette: (I'm waiting for Chat to do something)

Chat Noir: (yea don't worry I.. im just trying to stop laughing)

Marinette: (Wow rood! XD how dare u make fun of me acting LITERALLY the same as Mari, and being an idiot. that's not fair!)

Chat Noir: (welp... u should know better I can be sneaking when needed)

Marinette: (Waaaaaaaaah~! XD)

Chat Noir: chat stands up and picks up the picture "shes just a friend that why she has a photo of me" looks around room but then why is there no pictures of anyone else?" hmmmm drags fingures along desk accidentally hitting the spacebar key on the keyboard*  
Chat Noir: eyes widen and face goes red with embarrassment

Marinette: (FUCK YOU OMH WHY U DO THIS WWAAAAAAAH :( )

Chat Noir: (CAUSE IM A SNEAKY BITCH!)  
Chat Noir: (XD)

Marinette: (Grrr. Its on. Not really, I'm an idiot XD ive already lost)

Chat Noir: (yes you have)

 _ **-And this was my lame attempt at getting back at them...-**_

Marinette: -comes back upstairs with a tray of cookies at the purrfect time-

Chat Noir: (buitch you cant pun that my thing)  
Chat Noir: (eh im terrible anyway)  
Chat Noir: (who cares)

* * *

 _ **-So...as you can already see, my friend is much better at this than me.-**_

Marinette: **(A/N this was long, so basically Marinette came up with an excuse as to why she's got so many pics of Adrien.)  
** Marinette: (Shit...i may have made that too easy for u...)

Chat Noir: uh huh... and that explains all the hearts surrounding the collage of photos

Marinette: (yup. i did)

Chat Noir: (XD)

* * *

 _ **-And here I was thinking I was a good Marinette...must have skipped the basics here ^^; -**_

Marinette: "Tch, Of course that mangy alley cat has shrines of me. Mon dieu that's really creepy...but then I'm kinda the same? BUT AT LEAST I KNOW ADRIEN!" -Eats rest of cookie and puts her hands on her hips- Excuse me?! Adrien isn't just a picture perfect boy. (Shit i need to go get my writing for this. XD brb for a bittttt. XD SHIT WHERE IS THAT DESCRIPTION!)

Chat Noir: (XD I fucking knew it)  
Chat Noir: (brb want to find food)

Marinette: (i cant fiiiind it it was like a paragraph looong!)  
Marinette: (K)

Chat Noir: (XD ha ha)

Marinette: (FOUND IT! HAH SUCKS TO BE U!)

Chat Noir: (fuck me)

Marinette: (MUAHAHAHAHA SCORE FOR THE ADRIEN DESCRIPTION THAT AVOIDS HIS LOOKS! )

* * *

 _ **-I think we got sidetracked here...btw my ears are fine.-**_

Chat Noir: (you don't have earphones in do u? u might want to turn em down XD :P)  
Chat Noir: **(sends a link)**

Marinette: (CHALLENGE ACCEPTED, BOOIIIII)  
Marinette: (pUTS HEADPHONES FULL SOUND)

Chat Noir: (NO DONT)

Marinette: (yesssss)  
Marinette: (PROOF! XD) **(A/N we were in a skype call at this moment.)  
** Marinette: (i didn't pause it.)  
Marinette: (Lawl it was loud. XD)

Chat Noir: (YEA THATS WHY I SAID EARPHONES DOWN LOW BAKA)

* * *

 _ **-Perhaps the MariChat sin out in the world is too impure for my mind...I had a brief moment where I completely misread the mood...and then my friend took it upon themselves to go into territory they are slightly more comfortable in than I am. -**_

Chat Noir: **(Says something about Chat Noir being hungry after patrol, and has a description of his features that I didn't take too kindly to.)**

Marinette: (DO NOT FUCKEN LIE BIATCH. IK U MEANT HUNGRY FROM LB. I KNOW! IM NOT THAT STUPID)

Chat Noir: **(Is utterly confused. Then the penny drops.)**  
Chat Noir: (I CANT BELIEVE YOU THOUGHT OF THAT. I DIDNT EVEN THINK OF THAT OMG)

Marinette: (XD WHAT?! AHIHDASLD HOW DID U NOT SEE THAT? LITTERALLY THE MOST OBVIOUS THING. WITH THE GRIN AND ALL)

Chat Noir: (I didn't mean it that way and when I said grin I was trying to think of an adjective but couldn't so let it as is)

Marinette: (Yeah, well, it didn't help. XD)

Chat Noir: (I was trying to say that awkward or embarrassed grin thing is I don't have a word)

Marinette: (Clearly. XD how u not notice tho?)

Chat Noir: (CAUSE I WASNT THINKING OF THAT I THOUGHT WE WERE KEEPING IT FLUFF! BUT NOO YOU WANT SIN? FINE ILL GIVE YOU SIN!)

Marinette: (I read it once, and was like...kewl. wait. then i read it again. and i was like...the little piece of shit just HAD to go there. XD so...yeah. XD but apparently u didn't. don't go to sin, please. XD)

Chat Noir: (oh im gonna go to sin)  
Chat Noir: (and you gonna watch)

Marinette: (IM SORRY IVE READ TOO MANY FANFICTIONS...OF VARIOUS RATINGS...DONT READ INTO THAT! XD)

Chat Noir: (too late bitch)

Marinette: (nUUuuuuuuUUUUUuUUuUuUUUUUUU)

Chat Noir: stands up and sits on the couch bed next to her, leaning in, his face inches away from hers, serious

Marinette: (Waaaah why u so mean? :( I don't want siiiiiiin i wannnnnt connvooo)

Chat Noir: (MUAHAHAHA... *RUBS HANDS TOGETHER (evil) )

Marinette: (nO. PLZZZZZ)  
Marinette: (wait...where are we? XD)

Chat Noir: (faceplam)

* * *

 _ **-Thank goodness for my friend, they're almost as good as the real Chat Noir. Oh so considerate.-**_

Marinette: **(Taking a long time to respond after Chat Noir's messages, which happened just after ^THAT^ up there.)**

Chat Noir: (are you dead?... if you don't say something...)

Marinette: (I'm ALIVE. 'xcuz me fur currently having a blackcurrent splice ice cream)

Chat Noir: (AW YUM!)

Marinette: (Yeah. dw. i didn't die of a nosebleed. XD If that's what u were going for)

Chat Noir: (ok dude I have two ways this can go.. hopefully its one way but if it the other I don't think you would want to read XD (evil) )

Marinette: (XD what? They take their clothes off and go "to bed")

Chat Noir: (ill try make it go away from here though ok? ill be nice, fur now)

Marinette: (Ohhh no. u started. IM FINISHING)

Chat Noir: (in what sense ;) )

Marinette: (all the senses. imma blow ur fucken mind) **(Btw, knew it was bad...that's about it XD yes i am incredibly oblivious)  
** Marinette: (XD)

Chat Noir: (dude are you understnadin what I meant just then... and do u have any idea what you just wrote?)  
Chat Noir: (u just made that 10 times worse)  
Chat Noir: (ok nvm im continuing)

Marinette: (WHY. DO. U. THINK. I ADDED. "XD"?! I KNOW. I DID IT ON PURPOSE.)

Chat Noir: **(continues to write about Chat getting close to Mari)**

Marinette: (XD to try and stop you, or eat the icy pole? that is the question)

 _ **-Let's move away from Shakespeare. If you haven't already guessed, I can be stupid at times...here is one such example. ONCE AGAIN, reading the mood incorrectly.-**_

Chat Noir: (... I think youre readin what I wrote wrong)

Marinette: (NO. I DONT WANNA GO THERE. XD)

Chat Noir: (dude! what your saying IS going there)  
Chat Noir: (listen)  
Chat Noir: (you deserve better than someone like him, someone like me)  
Chat Noir: (u getting it?)  
Chat Noir: (ugh)

Marinette: (Meaning, he wants her. /is also trying to hint he means ADRIEN)  
Marinette: (I KNOW)

Chat Noir: (headbang)  
Chat Noir: (hes saying that he realises what hes doing and backs OFF. hes saying that she deserves soemoone better than him)

Marinette: (xD lawl)

Chat Noir: (fucking hell man)  
Chat Noir: (sigh)

Marinette: (WELL IM NOT A MIND READER. IM LITERALLY MARI. U GOTTA EXPECT I ACT AS HER. AKA. STUPID!)

Chat Noir: (hang on what if I worded it this way)

Marinette: (YEAH. U WORDED IT WRONG. XD)  
Marinette: (Your fault. XD)

Chat Noir: **(Edits the part so that I can better understand in idiot terms)**

Marinette: (I still find that confusing. but whatever)

Chat Noir: (HOW?)  
Chat Noir: (read his motions bro)

Marinette: Chat, you're a wonderful person.  
Marinette: Don't put yourself down like that.  
Marinette: (ARE U NOT ENTERTAINED?! XD)

* * *

 _ **-And then, this friend decides to put me in Marinette's place, feeling scared that Chat Noir will actually leave Marinette for the night...-**_

Marinette: (YOU MADE ME RUSH IT LAWL XD i had to copy paste it cuz i was worried u were gonna make him run away)

Chat Noir: (yea I was about to XD)

Marinette: (YEAH I WAS LIKE...WAIT NO I GOTTA FFUUUQQQQQ)

Chat Noir: (u gotta what? so u do want sin?... well I could always...)  
Chat Noir: (XD)

Marinette: (no! omh no! plz. xD)

Chat Noir: (jk)

* * *

 _ **-Regretfully, this is where I turn into a teenager-**_

Marinette: Go home, Kitty. Get some rest. But first...  
Marinette: (LEMME TAKE A SELFIE! XD)

Chat Noir: (XD)

* * *

 _ **-My fan moments can be bossy sometimes...HEY! You know you want the balcony scene perfect too!-**_

Marinette: (OOOH please go to the balcony please)

Chat Noir: I... uh...

Marinette: (YOU MUST)  
Marinette: (Like, just be crouched on the balcony)

Chat Noir: walks along her balconey and jumps onto the railing taking in the Parisian night

Marinette: You too. Oh and Chat?

Chat Noir: chat crouches down and looks behind him at the blunette hmm?

Marinette: (YAAS U DID IT PURRRFECTLY)

Chat Noir: (OF COURSE I DID.. BECAUSE I AM PURRFECT)

Marinette: -kisses him on the cheek- Sweet dreams, Chaton -winks-  
Marinette: (THANK YOU BRILLIANT BRAIN FOR THINKING THAT UP!)  
Marinette: (xD)

Chat Noir: **(takes a long time to respond)**

Marinette: (Error 404, **(friend)** not found? (chuckle))


	3. An Unexpected Visit

In less than 5 seconds of Adrien entering through his window to his cold, dim room, the routinely cackles could be heard echoing around the walls. Groaning, Adrien fell face-first onto his bed, the freezing pillow smushing his face. His kwami mocked him relentlessly for any small reason, so a situation such as this was too good for Plagg to pass up. 'Found a new love interest have we?' the floating black cat teased, his tail swishing joyfully.

In an attempt to shut the feline up Adrien threw a display pillow at him. 'Shut up, Plagg! My heart belongs to Ladybug. You know this!' He shouted. However his kwami ignored him, giving Adrien an unconvinced look. He thought back to his interaction with Marinette, quickly hiding his bright red blush under his pillows in shame.

Plagg noticed his chosen's behaviour immediately, and laughed even harder. 'Well it sure didn't seem like it,' Adrien could practically hear the kwami's smirk, causing Adrien to heat up even further. 'I mean if it isn't working out with Ladybug what's so wrong with finding someone new?' the kwami suddenly changed his tone, potentially thinking about the possibilities with Marinette.

Adrien sat up from his sheets and threw a look at Plagg. 'That's not the point Plagg!' He sighed, combing his hair with his hand. 'I love Ladybug. I can't just turn my feelings away from her nor can I turn them off. She's everything to me and is always in my mind.'

'So what happened between you and Mari...?' Plagg asked, feigning innocence.

Adrien stared off into space. He closed his eyes. 'Don't speak of it... it didn't happen... it was just..'

'Just what?' the kwami did not want to stop his prodding. This was hilariously amusing.

Adrien gave a hard stare to his cat friend. 'It was just a stupid thing,' he paused, noticing Plagg was about to speak again, 'Would you just LEAVE IT ALONE!?'

Plagg grumbled. 'Fine. But can't you at least give me some camembert after having to sit through that?!'

'Ugh!' Adrien groaned as he stood up, throwing his sheets nearly clean off his bed in anger.

'Wow, calm down there. You weren't this way 10 minutes ago,' Plagg gives a sly grin once again at his chosen.

'I'll give you double camembert if you shut up,' Adrien glared at him.

'Hmmmm...' Plagg pawed his chin as if he were in deep thought. 'DEAL!'

'Good' the boy grumbled, walking over to the mini fridge to hand his glutton of a friend some cheese.

* * *

Marinette stood frozen in place, stunned. Once her reactions were up to date, the girl screamed into a pillow, continuing to do so even as she flopped down onto her bed. Tikki appeared at her side. 'It's okay, Marinette. You'll figure this out eventually.' She placed one of her tiny red paws on Marinette's shoulder. 'You'll see!' She giggled. Suddenly, Tikki's stomach rumbled softly.

Marinette heard the cheery buzz and immediately felt her body burn up with guilt. 'Oh no, Tikki! This is all my fault! I should have fed you earlier!'

'Oh, it's okay. I blame Chat Noir. As sweet as the boy is, he did take the only source of nourishment I had after today's akuma.' Her kwami said, her tone slightly annoyed at the mention of her cat friend.

'Oh don't be like that Tikki. I'll always have cookies reserved for you, you know that!' Marinette giggled, getting up to go grab some red velvet cookies from the draw at her desk. 'Here you are, Tikki!' She smiled, offering one to her friend.

The kwami giggled sweetly. 'Thank you, Marinette. I can always count on you.'

The girl nodded, before falling back onto her bed and sighing. 'I can't sleep now, Tikki. All I keep thinking about is the Alley Cat and my love. What am I supposed to do?'

'What are you thinking?' Tikki wondered, taking a small bite into one of her cookies.  
Marinette rubbed her arm. 'I was thinking maybe I could go see him. '

Tikki's eyes widened. 'As in, Adrien?' Marinette nodded. 'I see...well then why not go right now? So that your memory of Chat is still fresh in your mind for when you compare the two?' a playful smile tugged at the black spotted god.

'But...it's the middle of the night, Tikki. He'll think I'm even more weird than I am at school.'

Her kwami giggled. 'Not as Marinette. Visit him as Ladybug! That way, he won't know it's you, and if he's asleep, then what's the harm in looking?'

Her chosen thought about it for a second. 'I guess you're right. Okay. Are you energized now, Tikki?'

'It wouldn't hurt me to have some more of those red velvet cookies. They were rather delicious, Marinette.' She winked, knowing it was her chosen who had made that batch today.

Marinette smiled. 'Thank you, Tikki. I'll give you the rest of those cookies later.' Her kwami nodded. 'Tikki...spots on!'

* * *

Adrien had the camembert in his hand, the door to the fridge still open and airing his face with more cold air.

'If you ask me...' the kwami started, still very eager to make fun of his chosen.  
'PLAGG!' Adrien scolded, slamming the door to the fridge closed.

'What?' Plagg whined. 'You haven't given me anything yet!'

Adrien rolled his eyes. 'HERE!' he thrust two slices of the foul smelling cheese at the kwami.

Plagg snatched them away from Adrien and spun in the air. 'AAAHHH MY GOOEYNESS!'

'Now will you be quiet?' Plagg nodded while biting into his camembert.

A response was cut off when he heard a tap on the glass window. Adrien jumped at the sound, but calmed down once he heard a familiar voice. A voice of an angel. 'H-hello? A-Adrien?'

'Hide Plagg!' the blonde hissed. His kwami rolls his eyes and zipped off into a random direction, the boy unable to find where due to the darkness. The boy turned to the window, a blush creeping on his face and neck. 'L-L-Ladybug?' He ran to the window and opened it.

 _'Eep! Hes awake?!'_ Marinette thought, her plan immediately crumbling at the site of his radiant eyes. 'H-hi!' she waved.

 _'Wow... she's actually here. Stop staring you'll creep her out. But if you don't make conversation she might think you don't want her here... oh this is a nightmare. A beautiful nightmare.'_ Adrien waved back at her. 'Hello! Um...w-what are you doing here at this hour?"

Ladybug gripped her yo-yo string tighter. 'I uh...w-wanted to check you up! I MEAN check up on you.' _Why are you even doing this?_ She facepalmed mentally.

'O-oh...uh, that's so nice of you. Thank you, L-Ladybug.' He said calmly, the complete opposite to his thoughts. ' _Do something...start a conversation...DO SOMETHING...invite her in...yeah...but wait, would that look too desperate? Creepy?!_ ' Adrien bit the bullet and smiled sweetly at his crush. 'W-w-would you like to come in?' he managed to stammer out, a little breathlessly for his liking however. _'You've doomed us.'_

'Uh...yeah! S-sure!' she lowered herself down with her yo-yo. _You are DEAD Marinette. DEAD._ 'I couldn't have my most important person...uh...such an important person as you be hurt by the recent akuma attacks. I'm sorry about your father recently.' Ladybug glanced at the ground. 'It must have been hard to see him that way.'

Adrien scratched the back of his neck, looking away from concerned eyes. 'Yeah, I had been meaning to thank you for that actually. I still can't believe it was my fault that that happened to him.'

'Oh no no no no no! Its not your fault, Adrien.' Ladybug blushed, shaking her hands in front of her. _'Nothing could ever be your fault.'_ her inner voice sighed.

Adrien tilted his head to the side to watch Ladybug's movements. His fluffy hair bounced to the side, angling his features into an adorable state. Marinette began to internally fangirl. _'He is so dreamy. Ughhh.'_ She thought, quickly adding, 'He smells like cookies too, for some reason'. However, the spotted heroine didn't realise that she had just mumbled that out loud in front of Adrien.

'I smell like what?' Adrien asked, giving Ladybug a curious look.

Marinette's eyes widened in panic. Her entire face turned crimson, 'Uh...uhm. No I was smelling you... **WASN'T** SMELLING YOU! I just really love sweet things and then, your scent...and...haaaaa...um. Yeah.' She shrugged nervously. 'I just smell cookies' Ladybug gulped. _'What are you doing?! You are Ladybug! You shouldn't stutter in front of him! Get it together.'_

Adrien blinked, raising an eyebrow at her weird behaviour. He somehow found it familiar, but passed it up as nothing. 'O...kay?' he said. Adrien looked around the room, desperate to seem hospitable and not as cold as his father; especially given how it's not everyday a superhero and your love come to see you. Excitement courses through him at the sight of the crumpled brown bag sagging on the pristine table. 'Speaking of would you like one?' He gets up and grabs the bag of cookies he had left on there when he first got home. 'A friend of mine gave me some today.' He explained, bringing it to Ladybug to try.

'Mhm,' Ladybug nodded, smiling with a hint of a blush on her face. She was doing well so far, at least she had made conversation with him. But Marinette was feeling lucky, perhaps she could take it that one step further. 'Well, I do warn you, I am a connoisseur when it comes to my baked goods' She replies bravely, unsure of where this sudden burst of confidence came from.

Smiling, Adrien's hand dove into the crinkled bag, hoping to pick the best one to give to his crush. Yet when his hand made contact with an unusual lump, he panicked, retracting his arm and turning around to inspect the contents inside. What was in there? Was it alive? He felt something definitely breathing in there. He leaned in, immediately locking eye contact with glowing, grumpy pupils.  
Adrien hissed at the black kwami, 'Plagg, get out.' Plagg stuck his tongue out and zipped into the blondes jacket.

He sighed, that had been too close. The boy spun back around to face Ladybug, resuming his goal of personally offering a cookie to Ladybug.

The superheroine looked down at his hand and the cookie that resided within it. She glanced back up at him with a sweet smile before tentatively reaching her own hand out to receive his offering. A spark shot through her as her hand touched his, causing her to falter and retract her hand slightly. Once the feeling resided, she grabbed onto the cookie and their hand lightly brushed each other for the second time in that moment. She averted her eyes and gave him a small thanks as she tried to hide her blush.

The soft smell of the sweet treat teased her nose. The scent lingering, inviting. Topmost layer an incredible shade of amber, it was cracked on the surface, like a dry desert ground. But inside wasn't dry. A satisfactory crunch lingered by her ears as it entered her mouth, only to crumble and melt on the inside, so deliciously tasty that her taste buds tingle. Once bit past the turtle's shell, a silky, fragile intern broken free, a hidden secret revealed. The treasured clusters of sweet chocolate melted in her mouth as the indescribable pleasure pulsed through her. They were incredible. Just as delicious as her parent's version. Clearly these cookies had been made with a lot of love, and that struck a painful cord in Marinette's heart. _  
_

A tinge of jealousy swept through her. 'Oh, wow. What a generous friend. So, who is this "friend" hm?' she didn't mean to ask that, but the curiosity was too overpowering not to. _  
_

Adrien smiled as her thought about his friend, completely oblivious to Ladybug's undertones. 'Oh, her name's Marinette, she goes to my school...she's really nice,' he added, suddenly feeling another wave of guilt wash over him as his thoughts brought him back to what had transpired earlier.

Her heart fluttered at her mentioning. ' _Awww he thinks I'm nice! Wait..'_ Marinette rattled her brain… ' _When did I give Adrien cookies?!'_

'Her family owns a bakery' Adrien continued on, keeping up his sweet smile. Still he did not notice Ladybug's sudden loss in thought. 'Their food is amazing,' Adrien admitted, sitting down on the end of his bed with the cookie bag by his side. The boy offered the space beside him, smiling gently. Joy spurred him on as he watched her wordlessly walk over and sit next to him, shuffling away with her hands folded in her lap. ' _She smells really sweet.'_ Even without his catsuit enhancing his senses he could still smell the scent. Adrien mentally facepalmed himself for the comment. Eager to distract himself from that embarrassment, Adrien attempted small talk. 'So why are you up so late Ladybug?'

'Eheheheh, well...out patrolling of course!' Ladybug scratched the nape of her neck. She knew how lame she sounded. 'Just got back actually, and I thought it would be a good time to just check you up...uh, c-check up on you to see how you were going. I didn't expect you to be up though.' At least that was true. 'Why are you awake?'

Adrien's heart skipped a beat. ' _She wanted to check up on me? M'lady is so kind.'_ He could feel the heat rise in his cheeks as he thought of a quick excuse. 'Oh um... well to be honest I couldn't really sleep tonight, so I have just been wandering around my room hoping I would become tired.'

Something spurred in Ladybug's heart. Maybe it was the bottled up jealousy from before. 'A girl keeping you up at night?' Ladybug chirped, a laugh dancing on her tongue and a smile tugging at her lips. Being hidden by a mask gave her more confidence but she still felt like that was a bit risky even for her.

'Ahah…' The blonde's smile fades slightly. 'Kinda,' he admitted.

Ladybug nearly jumped at his confession, eyes wide and her attention levelled up by a thousand if that was even possible. ' _Wait..no it is?!'_ she panicked, now this was something she needed to know everything about. 'Would you care to tell me their name?' She ventured carefully. ' _I swear whoever this girl is I will tie them to my yo-yo and strangle them. How could she keep Adrien from his beauty sleep?!'_ She replayed that thought. ' _And how dare she try to steal my Adrien from me!'_

The boy only rubbed the back of his neck nervously 'Haah well it's a bit complicated.'

'I have time.' she immediately responded. No way was she going to leave here without knowing her rival. 'C-Care to share?' Ladybug turned her body towards him, head tilting in concern.

'Um... well…' He began, unsure of how to word his current situation without giving too much away. 'Have you ever been so in love with someone you never really cared to notice others but then find you are hurting someone else the same way you are being hurt yourself?' He said in one breath. He knew it was a lot to take in, and as he looked up into her thoughtful eyes her wondered whether or not he really did sound ridiculous like Plagg had reminded him numerous times.

Her gaze was set on the floor as Chat came to the forefront of her mind. "Sadly...I do."

'Well that's kinda what has happened but that's not all I feel bad for. I kinda made a move at this person and I feel like I've just completely hurt them and betrayed my feelings at the same time... It's just confusion.' He sighed 'I'm sorry... I don't know why I'm telling you this' Adrien hung his head, shaking it slightly as he deflated.

'A-Adrien...who is this girl?' She still didn't know who this little devil was. It was beginning to infuriate her. 'If you wanted, I could go talk to her, y'know, girl to girl. I'm sure I can help you.'

Adrien peered up at the hero, confusion written in every line on his structured face. 'Why would you do that for me?'

Marinette froze, letting out a small squeak. He was onto her. 'Because, well, I'm in a similar situation myself. At first I thought the guy was joking, as friends, but...now I see he was being serious. I may have fed into his feelings. I know what it feels like to be on both sides of unrequited love, the least I could do is be a true superhero for Paris, and help those civilians, like you and this girl.'

'Are you talking about Chat?' His eyebrow quirked up.

'Ah, n-no. Another guy. 'Im pretty famous, y'know?' _"Yes. Chat. You genius, Adrien. Gaaah so smart!"_ she gushed internally.

'Haha true... well then who is this guy you like then?' he began to feel a bit sheepish at his comment.

Ladybug flew her hands all around her, nearly falling off the bed. 'Eh?! Noyoufirst!' She babbled. 'I-I would like to know who the girl Mr. Agreste somehow managed to move a make-er m-make a move on whilst evading the eyes of a superhero, hm? Ah-uh… hum. I-I mean h-however did you manage to be so sneaky about it, with the press and...all constantly on your back?'

'Haha well,' a small smirk threatened to adorn his face, his Chat Noir was nearly showing. 'I have my ways. Sneaking away from my bodyguard is kind of like a second nature at this point' he checked himself over again, making extra sure not to get too cocky like he let himself do as Chat. He coughed before his voice became smaller once more.

'But like I said it's complicated. I don't want to believe my feelings for my love can be changed like that but this girl…' His teeth bit down on his tongue; the truth threatening to come out. Adrien knew he couldn't handle it being all bottled in himself, surely one person was okay to tell, right? He sighed in defeat of his own weakness. 'I-it's Marinette,' he unintentionally let the name drag on in the silence, thick in the air like lead. 'a-and I don't know what to do.' he continued, running a hand through his hair as he hunched over on the bed. The mattress sagged, groaning from the movement; completely in sync with his feelings.

Her own name was still ringing in her ears. Surely she was only hearing the name she wanted to hear, right? But there was no mistaking it. 'M-M-Marinette?!' Ladybug squeaked, her heartbeat jolting to a speed reserved only for race cars. 'As in, the Dupain-Cheng, Marinette?'

Adrien shut his eyes, bile thick in his throat. 'Yea.'

The girl behind the mask was dead. Her body shocked into stone by Medusa herself. Her husk left behind, stuck replaying any and every encounter she had had with Adrien. She still couldn't see it. His eyes never shone for her, so how could it be that he had made a move when she had no recollection of it ever occurring? She was pretty sure that if ADRIEN FREAKING AGRESTE went up to her like that she would have died from a heart attack already. 'Are you sure it wasn't a dream? Maybe you just imagined it?'

The boy's hands began to fiddle in his lap as he mumbled 'Like I said... it's.. **very** complicated. I wish it was a dream.'

 _'BUT...it's gotta be?!'_ she argued with herself. She wanted to believe it. Oh how she really wanted to believe him, but, ' _he must not know it's not real?'_ Ladybug became very confused very fast. 'S-So...Marinette. is...um. R-right.' she muttered, not quite sure where to go with this direction of conversation.

Adrien brought his hands up in front of him quickly, desperate to wave off the heroine from getting too close to dangerous topics. 'I don't think you should trouble yourself Ladybug, really its nothing.'

'N-No!' she shouted unintentionally, grabbing his arm. It took a moment before she realised her actions and swallowed hard. She let go of him and in a far softer voice said, 'Adrien, I'm sure you just think it's a dream. M-Marinette and I know each other, and she has never mentioned you doing something like **that**.'

'You do?!' A cold panic swept over him. ' _Omg no…'_ his mind was screaming at him. ' _She'll find out who I am if Marinette tells her Chat had…'_ He really did have the worst luck. 'Well have you seen her tonight then?' The blonde tried to keep his voice level.

'Um... Yeah! I stopped by her house just before.' Adrien gulped. 'Her house was right near where I finished patrol,' Ladybug continued.

'And she...?' He dared to venture. He swore he could feel the sweat dripping down his face. Amidst all his panicking, the boy's mind couldn't help but think, ' _Wait...I didn't see Ladybug at Marinette's house'.  
_

The spotted heroine looked back at his searching gaze. She could feel her eyebrows knit together before her right eyebrow rose. 'Neeever mentioned Adrien Agreste seeing her that day?' she confirmed, hoping to ease his wound spirit. ' _Hopefully he realises it's just a dream.'  
_

Adrien took in a shaky breath. They were in dangerous conversation. He couldn't do this to her. There was no way he would have his lady getting muddled up in his problems, she had a life of her own to live. 'Ladybug I...' he paused, eyes wandering to the ground, unsure. 'It's late and I have school tomorrow,' he thought, knowing he needed a better excuse than that. 'A-and I think you should sleep, especially with you being Paris' protector and all.'

She giggled, covering her soft laughter with her hand in front of her smile. 'No, no, it's fine.' She really wanted to get to the bottom of whatever this was.

White hot pins pinched his skin, the room was a lot hotter than he had first realised. She must be onto him, what could he say to make this more believable? 'Don't get me wrong I love having you for company, I really do,' Adrien paused watching her focus all her attention on him; this was going well-he hadn't offended her yet. 'Its just I kind of have a test tomorrow. I think it's best if I can keep my eyes open during it?' He smiled, attempting to at least keep the mood light and upbeat.

Marinette jumped off the bed like a cat on a hot tin roof. She gasped, clasping her hands over her mouth. 'Shit we have a test?! Oh no and it's Physics too!' she paced around in a circle, the piles of incomplete homework now haunting her as she realised she was in no way prepared for any kind of test. She could see the future already, her own stupid self seated in class, sweating with her heart rate running out of her chest, the black sea of equations swirling in her head with no real solution at hand. Time nipping at her neck, desperately she would be tapping her pencil onto her paper, and twitching her foot on the ground, panicking in a room that was way too hot to focus and at least get something down. She groaned, a headache beginning to develop. 'Ugh...I'm going to fail!'

Adrien stared at her confused, his brows furrowed into a knot.

Ladybug suddenly remembered she wasn't alone right now, and she wasn't Marinette either. She turned back to her crush, wide-eyed. 'Ah sorry...language!' she scolded herself.

Yet Adrien wasn't focused on that right now. He squinted at her, analyzing every movement she made in these next few minutes. She **did** look awfully familiar, and she was about the perfect height anyway. 'You go to school?'

Marinette's brain went to static. _"...Wait."_ Reality struck her like a brick to the head. What had she just done?! Butterflies in her stomach were now violently alive, cooking her insides as the thought of throwing up visualised in her head. Her and her mouth never seem to be on the same plane sometimes.

Adrien's brain was still turning the gears, pieces beginning to fall together. 'Wait...do you know me outside of the mask?'

Ladybug stepped back, nearly falling over. Too close. He was too close to the answer. '...Yeeeees? **No!** ' her lips betrayed her once again.

Adrien raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms in front of his chest. 'But you just said "we have a test"?'

'No!' The superheroine knew she was stuck now. Becoming flustered, she instinctively backed away from the boy, as if physical distance would allow her to escape her word trap. Adrien rose to follow her, get closer to her. Stepping to guard herself behind the couch, she stared at his hands lingering in the air, terrified of her fate if he managed to catch her.

She shrugged, finally coming up with something as an excuse-although she knew it was pathetic. 'Heheh, you're the famous model. Everyone knows you. Um, it's probably just a lucky coincidence?' She continued, the longer his staring unnerved her, the looser her tongue was; letting slip to even more secrets. ' W-We probably don't go to the same school, let alone sit behind each other.' Her iconic Marinette babbling was back once again, relentless as ever with the words speeding out of her mouth without any kind of filter.

Adrien followed her as they both glided along his floorboards. He felt as if they were playing a game of cat and mouse with no one really changing pace. The boy did however recognise that she was extremely uncomfortable with what she had obviously unintentionally blurted to him. He felt a little bad for the girl, if he had revealed that Chat Noir was Marinette's own classmate and fashion idol, he'd be pretty jumpy too around the person. That's why, when she stopped behind his vibrant couch, he didn't push ahead. Instead he waited, listening as best he could to the blurred and virtually unreadable speech. 'Ooooookay?' Adrien said, after all of Ladybug's mutterings had been said. He was still just as confused as before, even with his head tilted, trying, and somewhat failing, to latch onto any word that sped out of the woman's mouth.

Ladybug could feel the pressured awkwardness constricting them both. Looking to change the subject as fast as possible her eyes darted around the room, spotting some beads sprayed around on the wide desk just near her vision. 'O-oh? What's this? Charms? For who?'

Adrien followed his lady's focus. The beads. He blushed, the girl once again entering his thoughts. 'Oh Marinette's birthday is coming up soon and I didn't know what to get her until I remembered this.' He pulled out the weighted object he always kept in his pocket, the very object Marinette had given to him so long ago. 'It's a lucky charm she once gave to me,' he looked down at it, reminded of the fond memory of them talking over a video game, 'So I thought I should give her one in return. I'm still trying to get the right combination of beads though. Creativity isn't my strong suit.' he shrugged, smiling in an effort to cheer up the girl.

Ladybug froze. Her mind blanked everything that had just happened before. Every muscle in her body seeming to relax like putty as a warm glow spread over her. ' _He...wah? My birthday? So it IS a surprise birthday. I knew it. HE'S COMING!'_ Even when in her mind, her heart was short circuiting. ' _ **And**_ _he's making me a LUCKY CHARM! Me! He's hand making me one! Ahhh he's so adorable!_ She swallowed, her cheeks blushing so much they could glow in the dark. 'How s-sweet. Are y-you sure you d-dont l-love her?' She tried joking but her stutter seemed to try to force its way back.

Adrien ran his fingers over the charms, absentmindedly fiddling with them. The grooves and edgings brought character to the soothing item. Regardless of the crazy, mismatched colours, everything just seemed to work when put together. The charm was delicate, irreplaceable due to its sheer uniqueness. 'She's just an amazing friend...' his gaze became distant as he added under his breath 'and now I know why.'

Marinette grew sad and somewhat angry ' _I will burn that word. Friend...'_ she tried her attempt again. 'She sounds to m-me like more than just that, to you. A-are you sure?'

Adrien looked away again. He couldn't face her. 'My heart belongs to someone else... even if they won't accept me I will always be there for them, no matter what 'cause everyone needs someone to fall back on.'

'H-huh?!' Ladybug felt deja vu hit her like a storm.

The Agreste boy turned back to her again. 'Do you think I'm wrong?' his voice dropped. Did she not see it his way?

Ladybug paused, thinking about something else. _"My heart belongs to another"_ , he said. So Marinette, whilst he had feelings for her, still wasn't enough. Marinette would never be enough. 'I-I see,' her heart became lead as it plummeted to her stomach. Her voice trembled slightly. 'I...no. I don't think you are wrong. Anyone would be stupid to reject you. Me, on the other hand. Heh. I'm kind of used to it by now.' she muttered bitterly.

Adrien stopped at that final comment. Her tone, it broke his heart at how defeated she sounded in that one moment. It was surprising to see his Lady like this, she was always bubbly and cheery around him, never once in a sour mood. Was it possible she also hid her emotions behind a mask? 'Who has hurt you so deeply?' He took a few steps closer, silent as a mouse. Once he had reached beside her, he grabbed her hands, cupping them in his own. 'Who would even consider to reject you?' A cold rage slipped over him knowing that there was surely someone hurting his love.

'Cha-Adrien.' she hung her head low. A dark shadow hovered over her eyes, clouding her normally mesmerising pupils. 'I'm not...everyone thinks that I'm this, this "perfect, smart, witty, determined and insightful" person. But it's all a lie. I'm not Ladybug without the mask. I've seen it happen in my civilian life. I'm just clumsy. I'm not brave. I make a fool of myself all the time. I'm shy, I stumble into things and crash into walls-yes all in public. I can't even speak two words to some of my friends. It's very easy to reject someone like me. Because nobody really knows the real me.'

A small smile slipped onto Adrien's face as he tried to imagine a girl in red with black spots falling and crashing around, stuttering and doing all of those other things she had mentioned. It was so uncharacteristic of her, but also so **perfect** in his mind. It suited her, that extra bit of mundane adorableness. He parted a fallen section of her soft fringe. 'But no matter what, you are still Ladybug. ' He assured her. He was unable to hold in the small giggle from his imagination, however he managed to pass it off as a sigh… he hoped. 'A-and honestly that stuff sounds kinda cute,' He said, immediately stepping back with a freshly red face and wide eyes. Adrien slammed his mouth shut, a mediocre replacement to the highly attuned filter he had developed over his life. Clearly, it was not strong enough to withhold any comments regarding his lady.

Ladybug's feelings, on the other hand, swelled at his words until the darkened thoughts came creeping back. ' _But he doesn't like me...'_ they constantly reminded her, weaving themselves into her own mouth. 'You say that, but that's probably only because you still see the spots in front.'

Embarrassment aside, Adrien squeezed Ladybug's shoulder. His Lady from what he could tell had seriously low self-esteem. He guessed he had seen it before when they had first met, but he had no idea how deeply it ran through her. 'Don't you ever think about yourself that way, you might only see the bad, some people may only see the spots but some people will see both and love it all.' Adrien caught himself once again and released his hold on the bug. ' _I think my filter has broken'_ He scratched his head nervously.

Marinette's heart grew two sizes. How is it that he could make her feel so much in such a small amount of time? She eased in to his gentle hand whilst she could, sighing. ' _He's so warmmm...oh.'_ Marinette felt the comforting security blanket vanish, leaving her open to the arrows of disappointment. Instantly, her thoughts were soured once more. Marinette. Never enough, never enough for anyone. 'I...I should go.' she told him, her thoughts now reaching a point where she needed to be in a safe haven alone with Tikki. 'This was a mistake.' She muttered, already moving to the window, Adrien most likely trailing behind her. She looked back forlornly at the charms on the table. As a parting comment, she whispered, 'Marinette will love your gift. She especially loves the sunshine and the cerulean colours.'

Adrien was stunned. 'T-Thank you Ladybug.' He beamed as he finally could start on creating his present. 'One question before you go though;' he needed an answer from someone. Anyone, and he couldn't let this pass. 'Do you think it's wrong to feel for two people?'

' _Don't think of Chat. Don't think of Chat...Don't...crap.'_ she thought. Guilt impaled her soul at the mere mention of the boy. He was beginning to be a haunting presence in her mind. Ladybug looked back over her shoulder at the blonde. 'Not if you truly love them, and know the real them. You don't want to fall in love with a mask. Go for the people that show their real selves.' Adrien nodded in understanding. 'Goodnight, Adrien.'

'Goodnight Ladybug...and thank you.' Adrien waved her goodbye as she slung away.

Walking back inside, Adrien shed his clothes off him and slide into bed, tucking himself in the warm shield of sleep. 'Tomorrow...' He told himself. 'I'll talk to Ladybug and Marinette tomorrow.' The blonde covered his head in his hands, breathing deeply.

'You really dug yourself into a hole there' the familiar teasing voice grew, cackling away as it came out of hiding.

'This is not funny Plagg.' He once again thought back to the vividly real experience with his classmate. He remembered leaning in, so close to that intoxicating bakery smell, that always made him think of a cosy home. 'This is not right, how can I feel for two people?!' he groaned. '...No I don't. It was just a mistake. I…" Adrien peeked through a gap in his fingers to see disgusted eyes staring down at him. He was being too mushy apparently.

The kwami was however willing to bear through this love talk if it meant the kid would finally shut up and find his true lady. 'Was it really? She didn't exactly object,' Plagg offered, gesturing one paw outwards at him before folding in back across his tiny chest.

'It's not fair to Marinette or to Ladybug… and I thought I told you to shut it,' Adrien bit back, glaring.

Plagg flew down to nestle next to him. 'You know kid you can't always just sleep your problems away... take it from me.'

Adrien just looked at Plagg, no anger or sadness in his eyes, just an empty tiredness. 'I don't know what I'm gonna do' He whispered softly.

'Be realistic' Plagg simply replies.

The boy lifted his head off his pillow ever so slightly to stare more intently at the black Kwami. 'Huh?'

'Ugh you humans can be so frustrating sometimes…' he rolled his eyes. 'I mean look at me I'm so happy because I have my camembert. It doesn't talk back, insist on keeping secrets, it can't even confuse me like someone else we know.'

'Well... ' Adrien tried to think of a way to explain to make the cheese loving kwami understand. 'Think of it this way, Ladybug is my camembert but there's another cheese I like..?' he held his breath waiting for the response.

'Mmm...impossible.' the god stared at him, disapproval all over his face. 'There is no other cheese better than camembert. ' A quick lick of the lips. 'What's wrong with you?' The kwami shot back at him, slight disgust and confusion laced between his words.

Shocked and torn at his kwami's words Adrien began to tear up. His vision blurred and his eyes began to sting. A lump formed in his throat. Thinking back on his behaviour with both Marinette and Ladybug, he realised that there really **was** something wrong with him. Who falls in love with two different girls? That wasn't normal at all. He swallowed, turning his back towards Plagg. He pulled the sheets up closer to his head as he tried to hide the ache bubbling up into his chest.  
'Nevermind' He grumbled, trying his best to blink the tears away before settling into a disturbed slumber.

* * *

Marinette landed on her bed, the tingle of her detransformation sending more shocks through her body. Stripped down into her pyjamas, the teenager snuggled into bed, instantly wrapping herself around her cat pillow. She visualised Adrien in her arms instead, but just as quickly as she had thought of that, she imagined doing the same with Chat Noir. 'That visit didn't help at all,' the girl whined aloud.

'Oh Marinette, I'm sure this will be over before you know it. Don't think about them, just try to focus on yourself, if you figure out your emotions everything will fall into place.' The kwami's gentle voice tried to soothe her chosen, but she didn't seem to be listening. Marinette was already far too deep within her thoughts.

'He doesn't love me, Tikki. That's my first problem. My second is Chat. I think Chat Noir is just as important as Adrien to me now. After all those visits… I can't believe I'm going to say this but, I can't live on like this anymore. I'm going to tell Chat Noir who I am.'

'Oh, Marinette. Are you sure about this? I know how much you wanted to keep your identity a secret, are you really up for it?' the kwami sunk lower, feeling weaker by the second.

'He needs to know who I am. He's my partner after all.' Marinette frowned.

'It's ultimately your choice but you must remember you could put others in danger if you reveal yourself, it's very risky.' Tikki said, her tone indicating she was slightly uncomfortable with this decision. However perhaps it was her depleted energy talking, the god thought, piping up again at the notion of this, 'Um… Marinette. You don't happen to have any of those cookies left? The ones you gave to Chat?'

Marinette felt bad, to say the least. Neglecting her kwami, great. Some Ladybug she was, making her friend starve to death. 'Oh sorry Tikki!' The bluenette jumped up and rustled around, unsure where she had last put the tray of sweets. It had to be downstairs, so the girl quickly snuck down the creaky steps to fetch some cookies. Blindly grabbing for however many she could find, the teenager raced back up, almost tripping on the last step as she practically threw the snacks on her desk. 'Woah! H-Here you go Tikki!' she said, returning to her bed.

The kwami gave out a light and joyous giggle. Her chosen certainly was an interesting child. 'Thanks Marinette' The polka dotted god began to nibble away as Marinette lifted the sheet off her bed and pulled herself under them. The kwami silently watched her. 'Would you like some, Marinette? Sugar always helps me before bed.' she suddenly offered, already predicting that her chosen was not going to have a great night's sleep. Perhaps a bite of a treat could calm her down slightly.

The girl merely looked up at the glowing red bug, a sad smile on her face. 'Thanks Tikki, but I don't really feel like it,' her stomach churned in agreement. She was already sick to the stomach, the thought of even a crumb of sweets made her want to barf. Similar to her abdomen, the girls thoughts were scrambled with models and cat boys. Marinette shuddered, squeezing her torso as she rolled onto a different side. Her legs shifted constantly, unsuccessfully trying to get the feeling out of her stomach. Maybe if she forced sleep on herself, it would go away. The girl's eyes slid shut. Before she knew it, she was off to sleep; her Kwami not even able to finish her cookie before she fell unconscious.

Her kwami smiled affectionately, 'Goodnight Marinette.' She placed a little arm on Marinette's forehead. 'I promise everything will work out in the end, trust me.' She whispered. The kwami then continued to take her place beside Marinette on the pillow; joining her chosen in slumber.


	4. Behind the Scenes of:An Unexpected Visit

_18_ _th_ _November, 2017, 11:15 PM_

 _ **-Warning, guys, my "Tikki" wasn't normal when we first started XD. When this chapter went through the editing stage, basically all of Tikki's parts were replaced. XD but it was still funny to think that that is one way she could act.-**_

Marinette: -Tikki reappears- BIACH WTF WHERE MAH MUDDAFUDGE COOKIES BE? IM STARVING HERE! MARIIIIIIIINEEEEETTTE!  
Marinette: (xD)

Chat Noir: (XD)

Marinette: Ugh..Tikki. Fiiine. here, i saved you some red velvet cookies.  
Marinette: Woo hoo! GIMME THAT SUGAR

 ** _\- I told you so. Theres more of that later on. Anyway, meanwhile my friend was getting their Plagg on real well.-_**

Chat Noir: Plagg: I mean if it isn't working out with ladybug wahts so wrong with finding someone new?

Marinette: (XD lol Plagg is 100% accucat)

 ** _\- More non canon Tikki…-_**

Marinette: But...its the middle of the night?  
Marinette: So? If your sugarplum is asleep, what's the harm?  
Marinette: Truuueee...hrm. Okay. Are you energized, Tikki?  
Marinette: Weeelll...if you gave me some more cookies and a sad child's emotions...mayybeee

 ** _\- Also I think this is the perfect way to describe a Miraculous Transformation XD -_**

Marinette: -MAGICAL GIRL SEQUENCE...HAH!-

 ** _\- Again, more talking, until 5 minutes pass since I last messaged, and then when I return…-_**

Marinette: H-hello? A-Adrien? **(A/N: LB knocked on Adrien's window)  
** Marinette: (Omh that was perfect timing xD)  
Marinette: (I got into bed just now xD so i didnt plan it)

 ** _\- You should know that my phone is a pain when I'm using skype. I usually keep having to exit out of the app before restarting it again just to make the keyboard stop slowing down so much.-_**

Chat Noir: **(Writes so much that Marinette's phone cannot handle the sheer speed and content of their words, forcing it to give the most delayed replies in existence.)**

Marinette: (IM SO MUCH SLOWER THANKS TO THIS PHONE...GRRR! XD)

 ** _\- Also, sidenote, WHO THE HELL BRUSHES THEIR TEETH AT 11:30 PM?!-_**

Chat Noir: (brb need to brush teeth)

Marinette: ( ye k)

 ** _\- When you tap into your inner Hawkmoth…-_**

Marinette: He smells like cookies too, for some reason  
Marinette: (MUAH. HA. HA. HA.)

Chat Noir: (WAIT TIL YOU SEE WHAT I DO HERE BITCH)

Marinette: (Also, I like how on my phone, i have u nicknamed Chat Noir, but the phone is like...nah... "Chat is typing")

 _ **-Yet my friend thought I intended that as a thought…and not out loud. Damn.-**_

Chat Noir: (dude u just said that out loud you know)

Marinette: (I did it on purpose. Hence the muahahahahahaha xD)

Chat Noir: (oh)  
Chat Noir: i smell like what?  
Chat Noir: (plz say i smell cookies plz say it)

 ** _\- My friend was beginning to hint at the cookie bag, cuz, y'know, gotta confuse the dense lil cinnamon buns-and me apparently. XD -_**

Chat Noir: a friend of mine gave me some today  
Chat Noir: brings the bag to ladybug  
Chat Noir: (u see what im doing?)  
Chat Noir: ( (evil)

Marinette: (Yeah it clicked when u asked me)

Chat Noir: (XD)

 ** _\- Another reason why my phone is bad when keyboard overloaded…it can no longer English. -_**

Marinette: "Also awww he thinks im nive!

Chat Noir: (nive XD)  
Chat Noir: (KNIFE)  
Chat Noir: (XD)

Marinette: (SHUT UP ITS MY PHONE)

Chat Noir: (yea ik)

Marinette: (Its so slow. im literally writing anf the keyboard isnt following me.)

 ** _-Can I just say, Ladybug is the most stock-standard character I have ever seen. There is hardly anything interesting to do when roleplaying as her.-_**

Marinette: (XD I AM CURRENTLY THE WORST CHARACTER OF THE LOVE SQUARE. WHOOPDEEDOO)

 ** _\- And now…Chat Noir brings back a conversation seen in Marichat's quarters. Of course...I tried to compete with them.-_**

Chat Noir: um... well... have you ever been so in love with someone you never really cared to notice others but then find you are hurting someone else the same way you are being hurt yourself?

Marinette: (Omh. U devil. XD)

Chat Noir: (XD (devil) )

Marinette: "Hrm..yeah...Chat Noir comes to mind."

Sadly, i do

Marinette: (XD i can play that game too)

 ** _\- I just LOVE my phone. Oh and my friend too. I mean would you just look at this appreciation I have to them? ^-^* -_**

Marinette: I know what it feels like to be on both sides of unrequited love, the least I could do is be a true superhero for PARIS, AND HELP those civilians, like you and this girl.  
Marinette: (ITS IN CAPS cuz my phine is bull)

Chat Noir: "you mean chat?"

Marinette: (MOTHER TRUCKER) **(A/N yea that was to Chat btw...XD I mean c'mon of ALL the responses, they pick that?)**

 ** _\- Soo...yeah. That moment when you think you've achieved something, but you really haven't...right here: -_**

Chat Noir: **(Adrien spills his emotions, conflicting as they are…)** but this girl... her name is marinette and i dont know what to do

Marinette: (MUAHAHA I GOT IT OUT OF U!)

Chat Noir: (well dh i was gonna say it eventually)

 ** _\- Ahh friends. We all think alike when it comes to Miraculous. -_**

Marinette: No! Heheh, youre the famous model. Everyone knows you. Um, its probably just a lucky coincidence. We probably dont go to the same school, let alone sit behind each other.  
Marinette: (You see what I did there XD)

Chat Noir: (i do)

Marinette: (XD twas a nice ref)

 ** _-Even when in regards to a previous chapter…-_**

Chat Noir: my heart belongs ot someone else... even if they wont accept me i will always be there for them no matter what cause everyone needs someone to fall back on **(A/N if you are lost, this was previously said by Chat Noir to Marinette in Chapter 1)**  
Chat Noir: (see what i did there)

Marinette: (NAH. IM AN IDIOT.)

 ** _\- Seriously guys, you do not want my phone's keyboard. XD-_**

Marinette: **Edits a bajillion times because errors.  
** Marinette: (My. Phone. XD)

 ** _\- But at least I always have Miraculous to make fun of. -_**

Chat Noir: is it wrong to feel for two people?

Marinette: (NOT IF ITS THE SAME COIN! XD AYYYYO)

Chat Noir: (XD)

Marinette: Go for the people that show their real selves.  
Marinette: ("In other words...NOT ME YA DINKUS!")  
Marinette: (XD)

 ** _\- Lawl. 1am shenanigans! XD -_**

Chat Noir: goodnight ladybug

Marinette: (NEXT MIN. LB CRIES HER WAY HOME LIKE...CRAAAP HE DONT LUV MEEE WAAAH) XD

 ** _\- Poor Chaton. I don't sleep. I like to tell other to tho. Because logic. -_**

Marinette: (DUDE GO TO BED!)  
Marinette: (Arent u tired?)

Chat Noir: (kinda but eh)

Marinette: (XD THE STORY MUST CONTINUE! XD eh?)

 ** _\- When you are waiting for that response from your friend since your character doesn't appear in this scene, things can get boring. So ignore Alya and improvise...or...maybe don't xD. -_**

Chat Noir: she didn't seem to object

Marinette: (A ghost lB is like...abloo bllo bloo u like Mari! Not lbb!)

Chat Noir: (XD)

 ** _\- Oh yes. More wild Tikki.-_**

Marinette: -Marinette detransforms and hugs her cat pillow-  
Marinette: Tikki just laughs her ass off. *Gurl, you are hella entertaining  
Marinette: Tikki...shut up.  
Marinette: rood!  
Marinette: *How about i give u bad luck?  
Marinette: M-nice try. But thats not ur job. Besides...He doesn't love me, Tikki. And I think Chat Noir is just as important as Adrien is to me now.  
Marinette: *biach y two timing chloe!

 ** _\- Yeah...Plagg is 1000 times more canon than Tikki. ^^; -_**

Chat Noir: p: impossible there is no other cheese better than camembert. you wierdo

Marinette: (Omg ur Plagg. I need ur plagg)

Chat Noir: (are u kidding im half assing plagg here)

Marinette: (Are u kitten me right meow? Hes great!)

 ** _\- Although...me too Tikki. Me too.-_**

Marinette: Tikki, I cant live on like this. Im going to tell chat.  
Marinette: He needs to know who i am. Hes my partner after all.  
Marinette: *HASHTAG OTP IS SAILLLLING!  
Marinette: What was that?  
Marinette: *nuthin, hoe  
Marinette: Oi!

*what? Im just hungry tonight. U didnt feed me any children's souls

Marinette: Hnngh GO AWAY TIKKI I WANNA MOURN IN PIECES.

*um...

YEAH. IM MOURNING THE DEATH OF MY LOVE AND THE PIECES OF MY HEART. GOODNIGHT

 ** _\- On second thought… let's just abandon this Tikki in these drafts. I don't think she's Marinette-friendly. Or anyone-friendly to be honest. XD -_**


	5. My Knockout Friend

Adrien found himself alone in hollow emptiness. He swivels around, the only source of light he can see surrounding Ladybug, standing a few steps away from his reach. Her trembling form is resonating a pink aura, as cute and adorable as the girl it surrounds. But the hues are dimming, growing weaker. A brisk chill washes over him, the injection of panic already coursing through his bloodstream. She turns to look at him, eyes wide 'Help me,' she whispers, begging with eyes of a soul in agony, 'Help me, Chat'.

Adrien reaches for her, his hand outstretched like a lifesaver. Yet he is not enough to help her. He watches her sink away from his grasp, disappearing from him at the last second.

Failure. He exhales. The world suddenly twists Adrien to see another familiar woman in his life, crouched down and crying by a river. She, too, has an aura encompassing her, yet it is red. Rosy red, bold and royal. Confidence. Admirable. As he walks over to her, "Why?" is all his classmate mutters. He places a clawed hand on her shoulder. Through the leather he can feel her outrageously high temperature, burning him up and causing his palm to sweat. _What's happened?_ The thought crept into him, yet his words had been drowned. Marinette turns to look up at him, her voice breaking in between, "Why did you do this to me Adrien?". The last of her words echo amongst the darkness as she disappears and the river is replaced with a room. Both Ladybug and Marinette are strung up over two separate vads of hot liquid.

"Adrien! Help me!" Ladybug calls.

"Chat! Please!" Marinette cries.

Both pleas struck chords in his heart. _'Save them'_ are the only words to come crossing through his mind before he watches himself split into each direction. Chat begins to run to the line holding Marinette and Adrien, to the line holding both begin untying them. Before he could get them loose however, the ropes snap and the two girls fall. Chat and Adrien's cries ricochet off the wall of the room, doubling over each other, becoming louder and louder as the girls come crashing into the liquid.

Adrien jolted awake, a scream lingering in the back of his throat as he bolted up to a sitting position, only to be greeted with the silent view of the sun shining into his room.

'Ugh, what was that for Adrien?' Plagg grumbled. Passing off his emotions yet again as "disgusting and unhealthy"-it was going to be one of those mornings, clearly. 'I was in the middle of a lovely dream about my Camembert. Why did you have to wake me up!?' The cat pouted. Aah _of course_. How could he forget that crucial detail.

'Sorry Plagg, don't worry about it,' the boy breathed, knowing Plagg wouldn't want to hear his embarrassing love issues anyway. Groaning, he flopped backwards onto his pillow again.

'Don't worry about it?!' the black god screeched. 'You threw me out of heaven!" Of course. Plagg continued hissing, his incessant rambling a clear indication that he had not been caring about his chosen's sudden actions this entire time- it was only the cheese that mattered to the glutton.

Adrien sighed, already he was developing a headache, and these raspy complaints were only adding to the magnitude of it. He took a minute to slow his breathing before getting up out of bed to shower off the thin layer of sweat that had formed over his body. The little black kwami, eventually given up at some point, had gone back to nuzzling the pillow, falling into a comfortable nap effortlessly.

After getting ready, Adrien eyed the tiny cat, envious of his mastery over sleep. Why couldn't he just get one night as comfortable as his kwami seemed to be able to have? The boy checked the time. Plagg was still asleep. Great. He knew anything he said would be met with excessive whining that the blonde was not in the mood for. 'Plagg, time to go,' Adrien ordered, holding up a slice of Camembert. It was as if the god had never even fell asleep, as in a matter of seconds he had already whizzed over and nicked the cheese off him.

 _'Works every time,'_ the teen smirked.

Adrien trekked to his car in silence. All that he could think about was Marinette. How he could possibly face her at school after what he'd done? But she doesn't know it was him. BUT that still didn't excuse his actions! He continued his mental scolding as he absentmindedly listened to Natalie as she informs him of his timetable.

'Thanks Natalie' His responses were all automatic by now, he was running on autopilot. After his mouth converted his script he went back into his thoughts. Adrien was so lost in them he didn't realise his car was already pulling up to the school. The blonde took a breath to calm himself before stepping out of the car.

'Yo dude!' the familiar voice of his friend manages to relax him a bit. He greeted Nino with their usual pat on their backs before he was nearly knocked over by a strangely strong force.

* * *

Marinette first found herself lying on her bed, the birds chirping outside to signify morning. She sighs, that had been the best sleep in a long time. All of a sudden a weight jumps on top of her abdomen, the culprit giggling at their apparently amusing surprise attack.

'Hi Chaton,' she smiles.

Chat Noir grins adorably, the look of love written all over his face. 'My purrincess, good morning. How are you feline?' he twirls his finger in circles on the bare skin of her stomach.

'Pretty good,' she hums. 'What about you?'

His face drops the love-struck grin and morphs into an angry, sadistic one. 'Why I'm feline fine, **purrincess** , as fine as feeling unloyal and like a complete **scum of the earth** feels thanks to you.'

Her brow furrows. 'How so?'

Chat growls, the vibrations in his throat grating on her ears. He raises a clawed hand and swipes at her face, no sign of restraint to his victim. She seethes in pain, sure that there is blood marking her cheeks. He goes in for another strike, and another, scratching her face, arms, abdomen, anywhere where he can hurt her.

Marinette cries out, the open flesh on her skin burning like icy fire. She's too scared to move, fearful that any sudden movement will put her in further agony.

Chat Noir just hisses, baring his fangs at her. 'This is what you deserve.' His eyes are dark. 'You should never have forced me to love you, let alone try to kiss me.' Chat seemed to be losing himself, his voice growing louder as he continued to swipe at her. 'You think I could ever learn to love you?!' he laughs. 'No one will, not even Adrien. You are a selfish, conniving **bitch** that doesn't deserve any kindness. I hope you never find love. Not after your despicable acts.'

Marinette hears herself whimper, too terrified to do anything but shut her eyes. He was right, she was selfish. Why would Chat Noir want to kiss **_her_**?

Opening her eyes she gasps at the sight of Adrien Agreste on top of her. He's glaring daggers at her, yet it feels like he's shooting cannons instead.

'Marinette,' he starts. There's so much weight on that single word, yet none of it positive. 'How can I love **_you_**? A two-timing unloyal idiot who looks for any kind of love she can get. Kissing Chat Noir, what am I now to you? Sloppy seconds?!' he pulls out a sword and raises it above his head. 'I'll make sure no one has the burden of trying to love you ever again.'

To her horror, Adrien slams the sword through her chest, piercing it straight through to the other side of her body. The wind is knocked out of her breath and Marinette gasps, speechless.

'Tikki!' Marinette shouted, sitting up, still in panic mode after her nightmare. The sweat was rolling off her forehead and her hands were clammy from the warm blanket. It would be a while before her heart stopped racing a million miles a minute. She pet her stomach, just to be sure. No wounds, phew.

A glowing orb floated towards her 'What is it Marinette?' the familiar high-pitched voice asked her, the tone in their voice and concern in their eyes already beginning to calm her.

'S-sorry Tikki. Just a bad dream,' the kwami took her chosen's head into her hands and nuzzled her.

'Oh it's okay, Marinette. Dreams can't hurt us, they are only temporary, your mind makes them up. Life isn't all nightmares.'  
Marinette shut her eyes from the vivid memory.

'B-But if felt so real Tikki, Chat was really angry at me for what I did to him last night.' she still felt the sting of his scratches on her arms.

'Marinette, don't you think that if he was angry he would have left without saying goodbye?' the kwami reasoned.

'What if he was only trying to be nice? Chat Noir is a superhero after all.' her lip trembled, for some reason the thought of Chat reacting that way to her caused her heart to break.

'You know Chat better than anyone, can you really believe that?'

'I...well no.' she sighed. 'But then I don't really know Chat Noir besides the mask, do I? What if he's a completely different person in his civilian self? Like I am with Ladybug?'

Tikki smiled, rolling her eyes. 'You are Marinette AND you are Ladybug, there wouldn't be a Ladybug without you and I think you know Chat a lot more than just the mask. If you step back and look you'll see it too. '

Marinette still shook her head. Her actions still felt impure. She had to be guilty. 'B-but I was selfish, Tikki! What I did was wrong. In fact I made it even worse since he doesn't even know he's betraying me with...well ME. Oh god, if this were Ladybug and, and Chat forcefully kissed her I wouldn't tell him that I was secretly furious with him...Chat's probably keeping face with me like I do to Chloe. I'm probably the civilian he hates the most now.'

'But he didn't forcibly kiss you nor did you, him. If you're really this upset why not talk to him?

'NO!' Marinette panicked, backing up into her pillows with her knees huddled together. 'Oh god, no that is the last thing I want to do.'

'Well Marinette you can decide later if you want to. First I think you have a more timely issue,' Tikki pointed to the clock.

'Huh?' Marinette whipped her head in the direction of her phone. She grabbed the device and glanced at the time. 'Shit...'I'm late!' The blunette jumped out of bed nearly falling down the stairs as she rushed to get ready for school.

* * *

 _'I'm not gonna make it, I'm not gonna make it!'_ Marinette finally sprung out of the bakery door, sprinting at full pace to reach the school. Her body was hot yet her face cold from the sheer force of the wind blasting her as she continued to run. Hopefully the bell hadn't rung yet, but since it was with her luck, it was very unlikely. Blindly, she sprinted with her chest heaving in and out, so close to reaching the stairs to the entrance of the school. So close, yet she was Marinette Dupain-Cheng, so who was she kidding?!

She felt her body collide with other limbs, feeling their strength and firmness as she hit them like a brick wall. In a blur of white, she let out a squeak as she rebounded off their back and hit the ground hard. Marinette rubbed her head looking up to see who her victim was this morning.

Her eyes locked on to soft curls of blonde. She looked down. The first sight of his pale jeans and signature white shirt, accompanied by the Gabriel-designed apricot converse with the butterfly logo on them sent a long and painful shiver down her spine. The boy was still trying to regain his balance, slowly turning round to face her. 'A-A-Adrien?! Omigoshimsosorry!' she stuttered. Did he know it was her that had bumped into him? Did he hate her now?!

Adrien stumbled to regain his balance, slightly annoyed at the impatient person who had so rudely slammed into him as if he didn't exist. As if he were invisible. Adrien's heart clenched as his mind strayed off to other ideas. Insignificant, unimportant, useless. He reflected on his dream. What would've happened if the situation were real? What did it all mean? Would he have chosen a civilian over his lady? He didn't know the answer to that.

Pushing the thought aside, he rubbed his head as he turned around to confront whoever the culprit was. For sure they were going to get a piece of his mind, he thought confidently. The boy looked down to meet ocean blue eyes, soft and as sweet as ever. He froze. He could drown in those eyes. Felt like drowning too. He noticed the nerves already wracking her bones at the mere sight of him. Adrien scolded himself for intimidating her once again like always. And here he had been, wanting to yell at this sweet, humble girl. Idiot. Whether he was Chat Noir or Adrien, he still somehow managed to screw up-especially when Marinette was involved.

Reminded of last night, Adrien could practically feel his cheeks turn pink. But he needed to be a gentleman. He was a gentleman. He put on a smile for her. 'Marinette...Are you okay?' He held out his hand to help her up, unaware that his gaze was completely fixed on her, mesmerised by her gorgeous features.

Marinette spaced out. She imagined that familiar, clawed palm support her as she got up. 'Feline purretty..' she let go for a second, reverted back to the reality where Adrien was helping her, not her partner. 'Ah eh...um...y-yeah I'm okay to, you, ah...heheee!' she mumbled, her words crumbling like shortbread. _'What am I saying?'_ she screamed at herself.

Marinette took his hand and squeezed tighter than last time, her grip the only thing saving her from falling over again. Adrien held back his observation of her vice lock on to his hand, masking his pain with a helpful grin as he pulled her back up onto her feet. Neither were aware of their brief stare into each others eyes.

'God she's cute...' Adrien thought blissfully. _'Wait what am I saying?!'_

Marinette fought everything against her impulse to squeal in front of the boy. _'I want him to catch me every time I fall for him.'_

'Uhh...dudes? Are we going?' Nino's interjection snapped them out of their heads. They hadn't realised they had been staring at each other in silence for so long.

'Oh hehe yeah sorry,' the model blushed, looking away.

Marinette spied Alya in the background waving her hands in what she supposed were signals to say something to Adrien. She gulped. Just say something fluent, easy. 'Sorry I w-wasn't attention paying...paying attention. Y-you thank me...I-I mean thank you...th-thanks.' Marinette stumbled out. Nope. She'd done it again.

Adrien rubbed the back of his head. The boy moved to stand alongside Nino, ready to head to class-as if he really needed more information to add to his ever growing headache. 'Heh, no problem Marinette. See you in class, then?' he winked, pointing coolly at her like a traditional popular kid would. Did he really feel like he needed to impress her? How pathetic. He really needed to get himself under control, she was just a school friend.

Marinette's jaw dropped in stunned silence. Her mind was running so slowly today. 'RIGHT! ' she shouted, panicked. 'SCHOOL! GOTTA GO SEEYOULATERBYE!' Marinette exclaimed a little too loudly, running off in a direction without another word.

The blonde watched her leave, a small smile tugging at his face. She seriously was something special.

'Dude you ok?' Nino gave Adrien a quizzical look as he and the model both began to follow the direction the speeding bluenette had just recently gone through.

'Huh?' he blinked dreamily. 'Oh yeah, sorry, guess I didn't get a good amount of sleep,' he chuckled weakly.

'Rriiiiiight' Nino raised an eyebrow.

* * *

Marinette sprinted into class with a bright red blush on her face. Alya watched her silently with a half amused look dancing in her eyes. The boys entered not long after, Adrien catching Marinette's eye but quickly looking away as he sat down at his desk. The blunette blushed even more and slammed her face into her book in shame. Adrien kept his head low.

 _'Don't look. He's cute, but don't look,'_ she ordered. She needed to control herself.

Adrien noticed Marinette's odd behaviour and immediately took the blame for it. He was acting too suspicious, Marinette could easily work out he was Chat Noir at this what could he do? He still couldn't believe it himself that he had done that to her last night, even after already being aware that she had a crush on someone. _'But she has a crush on me.'_ he thought, his heart traitorously fluttering at the idea. _'Ugh it's still not right. I'll have to talk to her eventually...but what do I say?"_

As the two teens were silently screaming at themselves the teacher began their lesson.

'Alright class, today the school has decided that after all the attacks to Paris, it would be best if the class improved their fitness skills.' Most of the class groaned at the mention of exercise, causing the teacher to almost laugh. 'So for today's class, we will be going outside'

Adrien's head shot up. This would be his easiest class yet. Besides, he could use the physical activity; it always made him feel relaxed and free. He blushed. _'Aaand I can focus on Marinette more. ON M'LADY! Not on Marinette...ugh.'_

Marinette relaxed slightly at the mention of exercise. She'd love to run at her best, but she knew she better play it safe and just go easy. No one could know that she was Ladybug. _'BUT Chat Noir would be so impressed...ADRIEN. NOT **CHAT**. Ughh what am I doing with my life?'_ she scolded herself.

The class rose to their feet and filed out the door. Alya, Nino, Marinette and Adrien all being the last to exit the classroom. Alya winked at Marinette, her eyes pointing to her crush who was rolling up his sleeves while talking to Nino. Marinette blushed.

Once out on the oval, everyone started stretching, waiting with bored anticipation to begin. A cough alerted them all to turn to their teacher, who had put on a silver whistle.

"Today we will be working on endurance and your aerobic capacity." Some members of the class groaned hearing this, Nino being one of the loudest. "On my whistle you will begin the long distance jog,' more groans. 'Don't be like that. It is only one lap around the track and a 200m sprint to here." she gestured to a labelled 200m cone down on the track.

 _'A lap and a bit,'_ Adrien almost scoffed _'Oh this will be easy.'_

Marinette was mentally preparing herself with a "strategy". All she needed to do was make sure she came last, and restrain herself from the temptation of being the best and impressing Adrien. She was willing to sacrifice anything if it were for the protection of her secret identity.

Adrien let his mind wander to his current predicament as he had no visible challenge ahead of him for today's class. How could he talk to Marinette without alarming her? He considered apologising to her as Chat tonight,since going as Adrien would seem too suspicious.

Startled, but not entirely removed from his thoughts, Madam Bustier blew the whistle and everyone started to run. Adrien's legs moved automatically, the only stray thought in his mind being the reminder that he had to keep with the group. But would Marinette even find Adrien suspicious? If she thinks he's a friend of Chat's she'll probably assume he was the messenger. After all, Marinette had mentioned she was a friend of Ladybug, so she would already be used to being a messenger for a superhero herself.

Adrien smiled, unaware that over the course of his thinking he had lost his sense of surroundings and left his body to deal with the race. Which, being Chat Noir meant his habitual normal speed was **fast.** He was miles ahead of the class, and still he hadn't even broken a sweat. _Idiot_ , he thought. Why did he have to be so stupid? He should have concentrated otherwise people were likely to suspect him as Chat Noir. Adrien sighed, hoping no one would ask how he was this good.

Marinette meanwhile was taking the run as relaxing as possible, it actually felt like a jog. It really was peaceful until she heard a voice buzzing to the side of her ear.

'Psh, look who it is, Maritrash, right at the end of the class, as usual.' Chloe. The blonde's annoying, irritating voice can ruin any moment.

 _'Grr, if only you knew.'_ Marinette quipped in her head. Externally, she smiled her sweetest smile at the blonde and dramatised all of her movements sarcastically. 'Oh, but you are also behind the group Chloe...so far away from Adrien.' She teased before she did a double take, realising just how far away Adrien actually was. _'Wow he's so athletic...'_ she thought, watching his muscles move in the wind. Still there was no sign of sweat. He truly was an angel.

Meanwhile Chloe pouted like a duck, gasping and gawking without much to spit back. 'W-Well,' she heard her say, 'T-that's because I don't **want** to win. Why would **I** run and ruin my perfect hair?' A smile formed on the mean girl's face. She'd found her grounding again. 'You just suck. Always last, Maritrash, always last. Not even Ladybug can save you you're that bad.' Chloe continued on her trash talking quips.

Marinette snapped at that. There was a line that Chloe had crossed too many times for Marinette to not retaliate anymore. She'd show her. She was thrice as capable then Chloe. Forget her identity, Marinette was going to win this.

With practised ease she increased her speed, each of her strides becoming longer, pushing her forward much faster and further than she had been before. One by one with a smile she passed gawking mouths as she very quickly caught up to the lead runner; Adrien.

As Adrien continued to run -paying attention to his speed a lot more this time- he could see in the corner of his eye a single individual burst ahead of the pack out of nowhere; effortlessly overtaking everyone. Marinette Dupain-Cheng. He was utterly flabbergasted, never in all his life had he known of someone that could run that fast -besides himself of course. But he was a superhero, it was kind of a given that he could do so after all of the years he had spent fighting; there was no doubt that his body had eventually become accustomed to such a rigorous level of agility and physical activity after all those akuma battles. What had Marinette been doing to get as close to his level of fitness if she wasn't even a superhero?

Marinette managed to reach first place beside Adrien just as they both crossed the marker to start the 200m sprint. She looked over her shoulder and smirked at Chloe's glaring face far, far behind. _'Now who's last?'_ she mentally teased. Luckily the class was still so far behind, that it meant she had a few minutes with Adrien before they all began the 200m sprint.

Adrien had been taken aback that such a small and lithe girl had so much power and energy within her. 'Wow Marinette, that was quite impressive,' the boy commented somewhat breathlessly.

Marinette was puffed and out of breath however despite the amount of physical activity she just did her reddened face turned nearly into a tomato at the complement. Her hands were on her knees as she tried to regain her breath. 'Thanks, Chat, not bad yourself,' she said between puffs, little stars began to dwindle on the outer edges of her vision from the sudden amount of effort and strain she suddenly put her body through; her mind elsewhere on the rooftops of Paris.

Adrien froze at the use of his alter ego's name, out of instinct tilting his head at the girl, wide eyed. What had she just said? Did she know he was...but how? Adrien internally shook his head at himself for being so inconsiderate. Marinette was probably delirious, she looked tired enough after that run and...he froze. Maybe she was still hung up about last night? Adrien panicked. _"Oh god, maybe I really did freak her out!"_ his mind ran into overdrive thinking of anything and everything before short circuiting leaving him with nothing but inaudible noises. 'U-uh..'

'Hm?' Marinette finally looked up, unfazed by the situation.

'Thanks...?' he raised an eyebrow. How the fuck does she know his identity? Is that why Ladybug came to him last night? Does ladybug know too? No. It was impossible, she would have said something after all...but maybe Marinette switched the story to me... or is this just a coincidence?'

Marinette just stared up at him, the harsh sunlight blocking out his features so she can only see the outline of his body. _'Hehe he's so cute when he's confused. Confused little kitty. With his cat ears and cat tail...'_

'Uh... Marinette? Are you okay?' Adrien was concerned for the girl, especially when he saw her hand reach out to him.

Marinette didn't realise she had drained herself to such a delirious state in the long run. She was now blissfully unaware that the high temperature of her body and tired muscles were causing her not to think straight. So much so that she had been reaching out and touching Adrien in all those places; ruffling his hair at first, then grabbing just above his butt before realising that the tail she was searching for was not there. _"MERDE! THAT'S NOT CHAT!"_ she gasped.

Adrien's hair stood on end at her touch, his hands coming up in a non-threatening gesture. His concern for the girl interrupted by her soothing touch, which unbeknown to him, he was leaning into. She was right there, handling him delicately, as someone precious to her. How he wanted to lean in and do the same to her, but reality struck first, and he was acutely aware of her hands grazing his lower back.

'Uh...yup yup purrfectly f-fine, don't mind me just really tired and sonotimaginingyouweremyKitty.' she squeaked, blushing profusely.

'Marinette,' his tone was flat and a little guarded 'I'm Adrien.' He looks down at the girl concern once more lacing his face. He was severely worried for her. He must've really broken her last night.

Marinette froze, all air left her body. He had confirmed it for her. He's not Chat, he's not Chat... he's **ADRIEN**. _Fuck,_ she really needed to fix this quickly. 'Uuum..s-sorry. You're like my pet cat, he's named Chat Noir in honour of his black coat. He's warm and cuddly and...uh...UH...' _'Stop talking. Just...stop talking.'_ she ordered herself.

Cat? Adrien didn't think he had seen a cat last night. The boy blinked at the girl, he could see her struggling for words, so decided to take the lead 'Hey Marinette?'

'Yes?' her voice was suddenly very small.

'Can I talk to you at break? It's important.'

'A-ah y-yeah, can you sure, I mean, sure you can.' she mumbled. Immediately her mind was jumping to the wildest of ideas. _'Is he going to propose?!_ ' she thought, but, ' _Wait...he doesn't like me in that way though...'_ She short circuited. ' _AH HE'S GOING TO END OUR FRIENDSHIP!'_

Suddenly scared at his serious tone she began to slightly shake 'I-if i've done something wrong, I'm so sorry Adrien. Listen I didn't mean what just happened I- uuh' She began to deflate.

Seeing the girl's sudden change in emotional state he quickly tried to calm her down 'Oh no no no Marinette you haven't done anything wrong' He waved his hands, going a bit red in the process 'Ahah don't worry about that.' He looks away and sees the rest of the class coming to the finish line. 'I'll tell you about it at break. Okay?' He offers a small smile, which the girl returned.

The duo spotted the teacher walking up to them. Together they turned to wait for her next instructions. 'You guys can start the sprint instead of waiting for the rest of the class,' their teacher announced.

'S-sure' Marinette turned to Adrien.

A small smirk is all he lets slip onto his face as he tried to hide his sudden desire. 'Race you to the end?'

'I'm gonna squash you like a bug, Agreste.' She winks, not even caring she had just let loose a pun.

Adrien seemed to enjoy it nonetheless. 'Ahahhaha purrlease. I hope for your sake you're used to the taste of dust.' The very moment Adrien finished his sentence he set off, running without warning.

Marinette jolted and began to run after him 'HOW DARE YOU! COME BACK HERE AGRESTE!'

The boy only let out a loud, boisterous laugh as he continued to sprint away from the bluenette, but Marinette began to close the distance between her and Adrien until she was equal with him. 'Enjoying the view OF MY DUST?'

Adrien's head jerked to the side to see where the girl was running level with him, surprised. 'Alright you're purretty fast but don't get to catty there'

She laughed 'Hey, I'm just flaunting my natural lady skills.'

Adrien smirked when he saw the cone that symbolises the finish line just up ahead. 'Ha! see ya later,' he winked, taking off in a bee line straight for it, confidence flowing through him.

'OH NO YOU DON'T!' Marinette pushed herself as well, still keeping up with the boy.  
Adrien began to struggle, his confidence turning into competition, shocked at the girl sprinting next to him, keeping up with him; keeping up with a superhero! They crossed the line at the same time leaving him stupefied.

His immediate thought was, _'Wow M'Lady is fast.. wait.. MARINETTE. Stupid.'_ Adrien tried to control his breathing, still looking up at her in amazement. 'Wow nice race. I haven't known anyone to keep up with me,' he said between pants. ' _Well...except for one certain bug,'_ he added to himself.

Similarly Marinette thought, _'Wow, equal to Ladybug, impressive, Adrien Noir. AGRESTE!'_ She giggled. 'Neither have I, you must be an agile fencer then.'

Adrien looked over at Marinette panting, mirroring her gasps, his gaze drifting to her lips. It was the same breath as that night. He shook his head to get rid of the thought. 'Huh? Oh, yeah.' he said guiltily.

'Eh, Adrien. You okay?' Marinette tilted her head when she saw his eyes locked onto her face.

'Hmm?' Adrien's gaze breaks from her lips to her eyes and realises that he was indeed staring 'Oh uh...' he rubbed the back of his head in search for an answer but thankfully luck was on his side for once. Madam Bustier had interrupted the pair once again, obviously impressed.

Their teacher smiled widely at them, patting their shoulders in congratulations. 'Well done you two. You can go grab a drink and get ready for break instead of waiting for your classmates.'

The pair looked over at the rest of the class who were still on their break from the long distance run, Kim and Alix already getting ready for the sprint.

Marinette turned back to Adrien 'Lucky us!' Grinning to each other they began their journey to their lockers, passing multiple classes along the way.

* * *

As he was walking beside Marinette, Adrien sighed with relief. 'I could definitely use a break' the lighthearted excitement danced in his voice. He was so spent from his outburst of physical activity but content at the freedom he now had. Even getting to see this competitive side of Marinette he only ever saw as Chat had been a welcomed surprise. The idea that she was becoming more comfortable around him sent a warmth spreading through his chest.

His contentment from the exercise was short lived however as a shout brought his defensive Chat to the forefront.

'HEADS!'

Both Marinette and Adrien looked up to see a softball flying towards them.

'LOOK OUT!' Adrien dove in front of Marinette, grabbing her in his arms as together they flung through the air. He had been fast, but not fast enough as he felt the slamming force of the small, hard ball colliding with his temple. Ignoring his agony for a second, Adrien put his Princess's safety in mind first, and twisted them both around so that he was underneath Marinette; protecting her from the brunt of the fall. He heard his head hit the concrete with an audible thud. Ouch, that did not sound good. The blonde let out a winded groan as his vision spun viciously.

'ADRIEN?!' the girl panicked, springing up off of his body to tend to him on his side. Her face was pale despite the tint of pink on her cheeks. Marinette knew she had to find someone **now**.

'Mm?' was all he mustered, his chest barely able to pass air through his lungs. He tried to lift his head but it only caused the throbbing to worsen. 'I'm fine just give me a minute.'

'Okay, okay.' Marinette took a deep breath to try to keep herself from panicking 'Do you want me to stay here with you?'

Adrien managed to get his hands underneath himself, pushing his body into a leaned-back sitting position on the ground. There was no hiding the grimace on his face from the spinning.

'I can find help for you?' she suggested.

Used to taking hits he waved her off, bringing his hand to the back of his head 'I'll be fine don't worr-' he stopped his comment to focus on something on his fingers. He felt.. something wet. He brought his hand back down to see a red liquid on them.

Marinette gasped 'You liar you're **bleeding**! I'm finding help. Stay here.' like a crazed woman she went to get up and find anyone that could help.

'No no no,' He grabbed her arm to try to keep her with him. He didn't want to put her in more stress than he already had put her in. 'Don't worry, I can just go to the nurse. Stay here...please,' he begged, he didn't want the attention and he definitely didn't want to lose the time he needed to talk to Marinette. The boy was also denying the fact that he was scared to be left alone with his field of vision already beginning to be engulfed by darkness.

'Hm?' she looked down at his face. Puppy dog eyes. Without him knowing it he was hurting her with his pleading pupils. 'Um...' she would have to be blind to not see he needed attention urgently. 'But I can get the nurse for you?'

Adrien stubbornly ignored her, beginning to lift himself up anyway. He stumbled slightly and Marinette had to help lift him as he reached his feet. Scared he was going to fall he squeezed her tightly.

She harrumphs at him as she grabs his arm to support him. 'You need help, Adrien.'

He smiled down at the blunette. 'I'm getting help, don't worry... just help me get to the nurse and I'll be alright.' In his swaying vision she seems to stay still and centred, her kind image being burned into his mind, beautiful, alluring and trustworthy.

Noticing his discombobulated state she decided it was best to soothe him a bit. 'O-okay. I got you,' she placed her arm around his torso while the other held his arm that was wrapped over her shoulder.

They walked together, with Adrien stumbling at times, nearly knocking her off her feet a couple of times when his legs gave out. 'Thank you... Marinette...' He his eyelids started to droop.

'Shhh,' all Marinette was able to do was soothe him but she couldn't help thinking back to how he jumped in front of her and saved her, her knight. _'My prince,'_ she soothed longingly in her thoughts.

Marinette lay Adrien down on the bed in the nurse's office. He couldn't tell the girl, but he was struggling to keep his eyes open as he looked at her next to him. He was barely there, sleep grasping at him.

'L-Ladybug?' the resemblance was uncanny. What did she think of him now, after first kissing another girl and then sacrificing himself up for her now at school? 'I-I'm sorry... I messed up...' His words began to blend together before fading off.

Marinette paused and looked down at the boy with wide eyes. What the actual hell was Agreste saying to her? **Ladybug?!** When had she gotten involved? 'A-Adrien, I think that hit to the head must have messed with your mind a bit. I'm Marinette.'

Adrien lazily reached up towards the girl. A tear formed in his eye that he tried to blink away. 'I'm sorry... Marinette?' He looked quizzically up at her, blinking faster to clear his vision. The shadow that had formed around the girl cleared up more to indeed reveal his classmate. 'Oh...' he said, slightly disappointed. 'You know...you look a lot like Ladybug,' he commented.

The blonde closed his eyes, there was no point in him even trying to struggle to keep his eyes open, it was only draining his energy faster. His last thought on the subject was that Marinette was absolutely gorgeous.

Sirens were screeching "Abort! Abort!" in Marinette's mind. How had he made the connection so quickly? She was a terrible Ladybug. Hopefully she could somehow keep him away from the truth and fix it fast. 'Haha, okay, Adrien. I think it's time you lie down and...' her attention refocused on his temple. 'What is that?! Adrien, hang on.'

A woman possessed, Marinette suddenly jumped up and raced all over the nurse's office, fumbling around in the cupboards to find something. Each time she didn't find what she was looking for, she would groan and slam the door before moving on to the next one. Adrien thought she was rather cute in her endeavour. He could see her struggle and wiggle her body as she tried to reach the top shelves with difficult success.

Marinette gleefully jumped back down to Adrien once she had finally found the first aid kit. 'I'm not waiting for the nurse to fix this.' she pointed a finger delicately on his forehead, where an open gash was marring his face. 'You'll bleed everywhere. Here, take this cookie for energy.' Out of nowhere the blunette pulled out a deliciously perfect cookie from her purse. How had she done that? Did she always just randomly have cookies in her bag always? He'd have to talk about that to her later. He blinked. Oh. She was still talking to him. 'I'm going to stitch up this wound near your temple.' his friend explained to him.

'Mmm...' Adrien mumbled, closing his eyes. He took the cookie and brought it to his mouth.

Whilst Adrien was in sweets heaven, Marinette began working on his head. She dabbed antiseptic onto a cotton ball and wiped the blood away. He inhaled sharply at the sharpness of the pain.

'Sorry if that hurts' She soothed. 'Here...do you want another cookie?'

A lopsided smile tugged at his lips. 'Yes please,' he asked. Without another word, the makeshift nurse placed another choc chip cookie into his hands.

'That was very brave of you back there. Stupid. But chivalrous. Thank you.' Marinette admitted in an attempt to make conversation. She frowned, 'Next time, though, let me fight my own battles, hm?' As she talked to him she prepared to stitch the wound.

'Heh mustbehabbi-' Adrien smiled goofily.

Marinette paused, looking at him dead in the eyes. What had he just said? It was probably nothing. Although, what was it with her and guys jumping in the line of fire for her?

All of a sudden Adrien slightly opened his eyes and mumbled, 'Can't let a princess be hurt after all, Ladybug,' he winked.

She rolled her eyes. She'd just have to accept it. He's delirious anyway. He probably won't even remember this conversation. 'Uh huh. That's me, Ladybug. Yep.'

Adrien nodded. He touched his temple on the side of his injury, wincing as his finger made contact. Marinette quickly yanked his hand away, staring at him angrily, as if he had just offended Ladybug herself. He crawled into himself at the sight of her fury. 'Don't touch it! You're still not fixed.' she yelled at him worriedly. She's staring back at the cupboards again, forlornly. 'I need to find something to stitch up that cut.'

Adrien frowned as he felt Marinette move away from him, taking her warmth along with her. He watched her as she paced back and forth in the room, eyes scanning for the utensil she needed. He could hear her humming to herself, and he could not deny that he found it oddly endearing.

 _'Where are the needles?!'_ she thought. In the corner of her eye she spotted a glint of silver. 'Ah ha!' she held some thread and a needle in the air in joy. 'Found these. Luckily, I know what to do with this.' she smiled, walking back to Adrien.

The model's eyes opened wearily, shock replacing his discomfort instantly upon the sight of the petite, sharp needle. A whine emanated from his throat as he tried to angle his body away from her, fear wracking his limbs.

'I don't think it's that bad. I just need an ice pack or something.' He tried to huff a laugh but that only brought another shock wave of pain to his head and temple. He looked up at Marinette, his eyes wide and begging, right into her own eyes.

Marinette normally would have already melted into a pile of goo at the mere presence of Adrien being so close to her. But he was hurt, and incredibly stubborn. The boy damn well needed to be told that she was trying to help him, and if he had it his way he'd be seriously in trouble. 'Adrien.' she stared at him, pointing at him authoritatively. 'No. I know what this is, and it must be stitched together this way.'

Clarity seemed to overcome him briefly and he smirked, 'Do what you need to... just be gentle' he winked before looking at the ceiling.

Marinette's heart skipped a beat, Why was he doing this to her?! He had said he didn't like her. _'Argh...contain it.'_ she screamed to herself. He's just delirious. He doesn't know what he wants. She exhaled. 'S-sure thing. I'll be as gentle as I want you...as you want me to be.'

Adrien only took a breath to steady himself, before Marinette proceeded to stick the needle in his flesh, watching carefully to not go too deep, but at the same time analysing Adrien's face for any indication that she needed to stop. She was trying to be as gentle as possible, terrified of hurting Adrien any more than she was. She could see he was wincing and biting his lip to mask his discomfort, but this work had to be done. Sticking her tongue out, she imagined she was sewing one of her masterpieces of a design.

'All done.' she sighed in relief. 'Bien joué, Adrien. You were really brave'

'Do you think it'll scar?' he frowned, suddenly sober.

'No. It's only small. It'll disappear eventually.' And it was true. Past experiences as Ladybug proved it.

Adrien let out a sigh of relief 'Good. Thank you,' He made his way to sit up again.

The girl pushed him back down gently but forcefully. 'Oi! I never said you could leave!'

'What?' his eyebrows scrunched together innocently. 'But we have class.'

' **You** still have to wait until the nurse tends to your other wound.' Marinette reprimanded, hands on her hips.

Adrien huffed and lay back down 'Fine,' he grumbled.

Marinette rolled her eyes. Why was he so stubborn? Always trying to make others happy, even if he doesn't earn any benefits. She smiled dreamily, before snapping back to reality. She could see his eyes still looking towards the door for escape. 'No, class is not that important. Your health comes first.'

Adrien looked over back at Marinette. She really was so kind and brave; still putting others before herself.

'Do you want me to stay with you until the nurse comes?' The girl offered, interrupting the boy's thoughts.

He looked down at the floor, knowing what was to come before she'd even done it. 'If u need to go, go. I'll be fine, you've done a lot already.'

His classmate raised an eyebrow. 'Are you sure?'

'I don't want to keep you if you're busy.'

Marinette was at a crossroads. She could just imagine two mini versions of herself on either sides of her shoulders, one in a Chat Noir suit and the other as her Ladybug self. The Chat Noir Marinette would be whispering "Marinette, stay with him." cunningly flashing her fangs with mischief. "He's interested in you at the moment. Why do you want to go back to class where Chloe is?" Mari Chat would continue. Then her Ladybug voice would rebutt her Chat side, explaining, "Adrien is better off getting a one on one session with the Nurse. He probably won't even remember this, why make his delusioned state like you, when you can get him to like you when he's back to normal?" Mari Chat would hiss aggressively, 'No,no, no. Just take this brief moment of affection with him. You can say whatever and he won't remember it. You have the chance to not be dorky Marinette, but the brave Ladybug." Yeah. Mari Chat was right. Why waste a chance as good as this?

'Ah, what? Me? Busy? Psh, nah.' She swatted the air confidently. 'Chloe is probably just stirring trouble again. I'll probably end up being "mummified" or "zombified" again from the next akuma she causes.'

Adrien laughed, colour rushing to his face.

'I'll stay,' She sat down on the bed, skin just touching, next to Adrien.

Adrien glanced up at Marinette. His hand moved over and softly grabs hers. At this distance he's able to see the light freckles that pepper her skin. He smiles sweetly 'Thank you, Marinette. I don't deserve someone like you.'

Marinette's thoughts returned back to when Chat had said a similar thing. The words that triggered it all. Guilt swallowed her disgusting heart. 'You deserve more than me, Adrien. Someone like...someone like Ladybug.' Wait, why was she bringing her sob story into this? Hadn't she stayed to bond with him?

Adrien puffs a laugh. 'Like she could ever fall for me...' However Adrien realised his mistake too late. Adrien doesn't know Ladybug personally and Marinette couldn't know he was Chat. Why was he even bringing this topic up when all it did was lead her closer to his identity?

'Haha...right...yeah...Ladybug does...um...'

Adrien ignored her stuttering, letting out a sigh. He'd already blown his cover, no point stopping now. Marinette was a good friend anyway, maybe she could help him? 'Mari?'

'Yeah?'

'Do you think you're a bad person if you love someone, but then betray those feelings by looking at someone else in the same way?' he asked, terrified of her answer. Marinette always had good advice. What if she said it was bad? That **he** was bad?

Marinette paused. She's heard this before, a **lot**. Was the universe tormenting her to consider her actions as of late? Marinette had been denying the fact for a while, but only now was she beginning to see that actually, Adrien wasn't the only one she loved. Did Adrien also have that problem with his many fans? Maybe she should get an answer from him first. 'Hey, Adrien. Might I ask who the girl is that has caused you to think about such a question?' Who was her competition?

'I... it's complicated...' he averted his eyes, blushing slightly. What would she think of him if she actually knew it was her? He gulped. 'What if you know that person you love would never love you back? Does it still make you a bad person for betraying those feelings?'

Marinette would like to think she didn't have any bias towards Adrien, but no matter what she couldn't break the boy's innocent heart. 'No, Adrien. You could never be a bad person. Even if it is complicated, I promise I will listen.'

Adrien struggled for words, his eyes falling to the bed and their hands. He inhaled deeply, 'Someone... I know is in a similar situation. He told me everything that happened...Chat told me everything.'

'Chat...Noir?' Marinette asked, puzzlement written all over her face. Internally she was stressing out. How does he know about Chat's nightly visits?

'Mari...' Adrien started again. 'Chat told me about last night and you should know he regrets what he did...he wants to apologise but doesn't know how to. He loves ladybug...and was... caught up in his emotions.' He searched her eyes for any sign of acceptance. 'Do you think you will be willing to talk to him?'

'L-last night?' Marinette rewound and fast-played everything she had done with Chat, including her selfish actions at the end. Oh god, Chat really was mad at her. She could already hear the fear pounding from her heart. 'Ah... it's fine. I don't mind at all. He doesn't need to apologise. It's Ladybug that needs to. She...shes told me that she feels so stupid and idiotic for not realising sooner about her partner. She's made everything a big mess.' Her voice had gone softer the longer she spoke. 'Haha, "Clumsinette", alright...heeeeh,' she added in a whisper

'It's not her fault,' Adrien argued. 'She didn't do anything wrong. It's my...I uh Chat's fault for falling for her.. she couldn't help it.'

Just then the nurse walked in, halting their conversation abruptly.

Marinette blushed, embarrassed at being caught here with a boy in front of an adult, even if it was with good intentions. 'Well, I best be off now. Hope you feel better, Adrien. Bye!' Marinette began to stand up.

'Goodbye Mari... thank you again.' Adrien bowed his head.

'Don't mention it' she winked back.

Adrien watched her leave from his bed even as the nurse began to fuss over the boy. She called for him to be taken home before the end of school for some additional rest.

Adrien sunk on top of his bed sheets, staring up at the ceiling as he listened to his caretaker droll on about his safety and to pay more attention to his surroundings. 'Your schedule has been cancelled for your recovery,' she added, 'but your father would like to remind you to stay away from any dangerous situations in the future and to not take so many risks.'

'Yes Nathalie, thank you.' he replied with an equally bored tone.

Adrien lay their listening to the clacks of Nathalie's heels leaving his room, the door shutting behind her almost immediately. As soon as an audible click was heard Plagg came flying out of Adrien's pocket.

'Now wasn't that heroic Mr. Googly eyes!' the kwami smirked knowingly.

'What?' Adrien flinched back, unsure why he was feeling so embarrassed for OBVIOUSLY trying to protect a friend.

'You couldn't help flinging yourself over her like that huh? By the way, yes that did hurt ME thank you very much.' Plagg scolded dramatically indicating to his own body, before throwing his hands up with a 'tsk', rolling his eyes and flying over to his private cheese stash.

'She would've gotten hurt if I hadn't,' Adrien argued back, however his voice was very soft due to the recent injury to his head.

The kwami held half a wheel of Camembert in his arms. 'Yea and you ended up giving yourself a concussion.' he slammed the cabinet door closed. 'If she had gotten hit you could have grabbed her and all she would have had was a headache, you idiot!' he screeched, Adrien suddenly able to hear the hint of concern laced within the usually cold kwami's heart.

'It doesn't matter.'

Plagg engulfed his cheese in a matter of seconds, groaning loudly afterwards. 'I'm still starving! I haven't eaten all day until now because of you!'

'Just go to my bag, there's more Camembert in there.' he sighed. 'And could you be quiet please? I need some sleep,' Adrien mumbled from his bed

Plagg softened slightly, his ears drooping down a bit. 'Sure thing kid. You look pretty banged up,' He flies off, for once the kwami had shown his compassion towards his chosen. It felt...nice.

The boy rolled over. Closing his eyes was all too easy for him, and before he knew it, he had drifted off.


End file.
